Yahoo News Former Coventry City favourite Viktor Gyokeres finally reveals the story behind the mask
It feels like one of football’s longest running cliff hangers, but one-time Coventry City hero Viktor Gyokeres has finally revealed the story behind his now iconic goal celebration.
The former Sky Blues striker’s career has hit meteoric heights since leaving the Championship club where he made his name and first revealed his eye-catching mask celebration at the CBS Arena. The 26-year-old Sweden international bagged 22 goals in his final season at City ahead of a £20million plus move to Sporting Lisbon.
He claimed during his time at Coventry that he would explain his unusual celebration – in which he locks the fingers together on both hands and holds it up to his face to create a mask covering his mouth and nose – at the end of the season. However, he failed to do so and continued the mystery during a stellar season in Portugal where he kept his new army of supporters guessing as he scored an incredible 43 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions, helping Sporting to the Primeira Liga title and raising his profile even further.
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Now considered as one of the hottest strikers in Europe, he’s been strongly linked with a move back to England, with Arsenal favourites to sign him this summer. That will be brilliant news for City who are set to benefit from a 10 percent sell-on clause on any profit Sporting make on their outlay for the player last summer.
And with an £86m release clause, Doug King and Coventry would be quids in with a welcome cash windfall that could help further fund Mark Robins’ summer spending as the manager looks to strengthen his impressive squad and take it to the next level, capable of a sustained push for promotion to the Premier League.
Anyway, back to the goal celebration. Gyokeres has posted a video reel on instagram showing footage of his goals and celebrations, including the comment: Nobody cared until I put on the mask.
That is a quote from Bane, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, with the character first appearing in Batman: Vengeance of Bane and The Dark Knight Rises. The exact quote is: ‘No-one cared who I was until I put on the mask.’
