“Leave it alone” – Arsenal legend hits out at what Gunners star did against Sporting | OneFootball

Arsenal legend Freddie Ljungberg has admitted he’s not a fan of Gabriel Magalhaes trolling Viktor Gyokeres by copying the Sporting Lisbon striker’s celebration in last night’s Champions League game.

The Gunners thrashed Sporting 5-1 last night in a terrific away performance, with Gabriel among the scorers on the night as he headed in a Declan Rice corner in the first half.

Speaking after the game, former Arsenal star Ljungberg discussed Gabriel’s antics on punditry duty, and made it clear he wasn’t a fan of players aiming digs at each other like this.

Ljungberg was a star player for Arsenal for many years, forming a key part of that famous 2003/04 Invincibles side, while he later had a brief spell as caretaker manager of the north London giants.

So, it’s fair to say the former Sweden international knows a thing or two about representing Arsenal with class, and he clearly didn’t take too well to Gabriel attempting to mock Gyokeres in the way that he did.

Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Magalhaes (Photo by Gualter Fatia, Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images)

Freddie Ljungberg speaks out on Gabriel Magalhaes copying Viktor Gyokeres’ goal celebration

“I’m not a fan of it,” Ljungberg told Viaplay, as quoted by the Metro.

“Of course, he must have had a lot of talk about playing against Gyokeres and whether he would be able to do it. Then his point in showing that he can handle it is quite simple.

“But I think it’s a bit disrespectful. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I don’t think it’s necessary. I think someone else has that target gesture, leave it alone. I don’t like to see it.”

Arsenal fans will be loving it, though, as Mikel Arteta’s side continue to show a certain nasty streak that they sometimes lacked in the latter part of the Arsene Wenger era.

Most importantly, though, Arsenal were in superb form last night with an emphatic win against a top team, who only weeks go beat Manchester City 4-1.