Gyokeres arrived back in Lisbon with the weight of expectation on his shoulders, but the Sweden international failed to live up to the hype against his former employers. Despite his incredible goal-scoring record during his time in Portugal, he struggled to make any meaningful impact on the game, leading to scathing reviews in the local papers, per the Evening Standard. "The striker celebrates with a mask, [but] seemed masked: he was barely visible", reported A Bola.
Other outlets were equally unimpressed with the man who once spearheaded Sporting's attack. O Jogo claimed that Sporting "stifled" their former talisman, while Publico noted that the striker was "largely absent from the game." It was a humbling evening for a player who had scored 97 goals in 102 appearances for the Portuguese giants, only to find himself neutralised by the defenders who used to be his team-mates.