Mikel Arteta has revealed that Gabriel Magalhaes asked to take the crucial fifth penalty in the Champions League final shootout, before blazing his effort over the crossbar. The Gunners drew 1-1 with Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest, with an early Kai Havertz goal cancelled out by an Ousmane Dembele penalty in the second half.
PSG dominated possession and created more chances, but Arsenal defended impressively and took the game all the way to the shootout. There was an early blow for the Premier League side as Eberechi Eze sent his spot-kick wide of the post, but David Raya then kept out Nuno Mendes' penalty.
Gabriel's Decisive Miss
With the defending champions taking the first penalty, it came down to Gabriel's fifth to take the shootout into sudden death. However, the Brazilian defender blazed his shot over the bar, sparking PSG's wild celebrations. Arsenal legend Thierry Henry expressed surprise at seeing the centre-back step forward for the critical spot-kick.
“I always say when you go and take the penalty I will always have respect for you,” Henry told CBS Sports. “I don't know why he went, I don't know how he arrived to be the fifth guy but he went. He played immensely all season and tonight. But he missed it. But he didn't hide.”
Arteta's Explanation
Arteta confirmed that Gabriel volunteered at the crucial moment, with several more regular penalty-takers already substituted. “He wanted to take number five,” Arteta told a post-match press conference. “Obviously we have prepared and trained for this moment. Normally the penalty-takers will be Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz for sure, and we knew that if we go to extra time and penalties, the penalty-takers will be different players, but still with quality. When you have Ebs take penalties in training, he doesn't miss any. But then you have to do it in this moment, and unfortunately, they didn't have the same precision and efficiency that they had.”
Gunners midfielder Declan Rice told TNT Sports: “To miss a penalty in a Champions League final, obviously it's not nice. But we love them and we're with them. It happens in football. They're not going to be the last players to miss penalties in finals. Everyone has missed a penalty, and without those two this season, we wouldn't have won the Premier League, that's for sure. Gabriel, I've run out of words for him as a person and as a player. Eze has scored some crucial goals for us this season. It happens. It's football and it's cruel. We take the positives and keep going.”
Penalty Controversy
There was also penalty controversy earlier in the contest when Noni Madueke went down in the box after a clumsy challenge from Mendes in extra time. The referee gave nothing, and VAR did not intervene. There was contact between the players, but it was not entirely clear who initiated it or if it was enough to put the Arsenal winger on the deck.
Arteta believes his team was unlucky, having studied decisions given earlier in the tournament. “I watched all the penalties in the competition in the last 72 hours to understand what is a penalty and what is not, and that easily could be a penalty,” he said. “If, if, if is not what happened, and that's it. We need to do better, have to improve, and find different margins to find the outcome we want.”
