Isak and Gyokeres seal Sweden win over Romania

WATCH EVERY UEFA Nations League LIVE on beIN SPORTS | Sign up here and save up to $60 on our Annual Pass Now | AU | NZ

Having been promoted to League B during the previous UEFA Nations League campaign, Sweden made a winning return to the competition.

It started fast, with Sebastian Nanasi seeing a curling effort pushed away by Ionut Radu with just 32 seconds on the clock.

Isak found a way through in the 20th minute. He peeled off the back of Virgil Ghita to latch on to Yasin Ayari's throughball and his powerful effort nestled into the net, despite Radu getting a hand to the shot.

But nine minutes later, Romania was back on level terms. A pacy counter-attack finished with Dennis Man flicking the ball over Victor Lindelof before volleying past a helpless Viktor Johansson.

Romania attempted to push for a second, but its momentum was halted two minutes before half-time when Gyokeres fired in the rebound of Lucas Bergvall's saved shot.

Elliot Stroud thought he had added a third for Sweden when his lovely looping shot flew into the top-right corner 53 minutes in, but his celebrations were cut short after the goal was ruled out after a video assistant referee (VAR) review for a handball by Isak in the build-up.

Both teams had further chances to add to their tallies, but neither could find another goal, with Sweden moving top of the group with the victory.

Gyokeres insisted he was not fazed by the criticism he has faced this season with Arsenal after ending his goal drought for Sweden.

It marked the Arsenal striker's first goal of the 2026-2027 campaign for club and country, having failed to score in any of his five appearances in all competitions for the Gunners.

Gyokeres has only played 207 minutes of football for Arsenal this season, starting just two matches, despite netting 21 times across all competitions in his debut season for Mikel Arteta's side after his big-money move from Sporting CP.

Kai Havertz's injury while playing for Germany could open the door for more opportunities at club level for Gyokeres, who said recent criticism of his performances was something he was not interested in reading.

"If there is a lot of [criticism] and you read it, of course you can be influenced, but that is not something I do," Gyokeres said. 

"If you do well, you get praise and if you don't score goals as a striker and play as they expect, there is criticism. That is how it is for all footballers. It goes up and down.

"It is normal. It's always nice to score a goal. It was a good finish from Lucas [Bergvall] and I was in a good position at the far post. I received it and got it in."

Gyokeres did, however, acknowledge his performances for Arsenal had to improve. He has only managed to muster one shot across all of his outings so far in 2026-2027.

"I obviously need to do better, and yes, I want to do it, so that's no problem. It's good [the dialogue with Arteta]," Gyokeres added.

"I just try to do well when I get the chance and score goals. You always want to be on the field as a football player, that's just how it is.

"I haven't played a lot, but I've had a few games. It felt okay then, but it's clear that you want to play football, and you want to play as much as possible. If I focus, that will come."