BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – Gabriel Magalhães looked up at the sky, covered his face with his hands and lifted his sweat-soaked Arsenal shirt over his head.
Within seconds, the Brazilian defender was being consoled by his international teammate Marquinhos. Marquinhos is the man who will soon lift the European Cup with Paris Saint-Germain.
One of the best seasons in Arsenal’s 140-year history had just ended in the most painful way. lost in penalty shootout In the Champions League final, it was Gabriel who missed the crucial spot-kick.
Arsenal star Declan Rice said: “It happens, it’s football and it’s brutal.”
No player at Arsenal deserved to endure the pain of missing a crucial penalty in the biggest game in the club’s history, and perhaps Gabriel most of all.
He is the rock at the heart of one of the best defenses in club football, conceding just six goals in the 14 Champions League games leading up to the final.
Arsenal kept a clean sheet in half of their 38 games leading up to their first victory. premier league title 22 years later.
It was a game played at the Puskas Arena on Saturday in which they endured wave after wave of attacks from Europe’s strongest attacking team.
“Gabriel, I’m at a loss for words as a person and as a player,” Rice said.
And it was from this man that Gabriel converted Arsenal’s fifth penalty in the shootout. This is a game usually decided on penalties and was needed to keep Arsenal alive after Eberechi Eze’s earlier mistake.
Gabriel took a deep breath, made a wide run towards the ball – wobbling slightly at one point – and fired the shot over the crossbar.
Arsenal, a club with a penchant for near-misses in recent years, have added yet another to the list.
Manager Mikel Arteta had only one thing to say when asked about his state of mind after suffering a heartbreaking 4-3 penalty shootout defeat.
“It hurts,” he said.
He would soon use another word: “pride.”
“What I said to the players and the staff is that even if you say ‘thank you’ a million times, it will not be enough,” Arteta said.
Still, Arsenal have made great progress this season.
This is the first Premier League title since Arsene Wenger’s “Invincibles” in 2004.
Reaching the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years.
Although they lost to Manchester City in the English League Cup, they made it to the domestic cup final.
The Gunners can rightly call themselves England’s best team again.
They were almost the strongest team in Europe.
“You have to go through that pain, digest it and turn it into fuel,” Arteta said. “It’s about improving and reaching another level, because we need a different level of quality than what we have around Europe.”
Arsenal have been criticized by some for their pragmatic and often finicky style of play under Arteta, but the team may be ready to evolve.
“First we will spend a few days with our family and then we will start the process of reviewing what we have done so far and start making very important decisions if we want to reach another level,” Arteta said.
“We have to show that ambition, because we are more than capable of doing it. But we have to be very, very ambitious and demand that we act very quickly and very wisely.”
___
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
