Arsenal star Gabriel Magalhaes was involved in a controversial incident with Erling Haaland where he was lucky to not be shown a red card
Gabriel Magalhaes has been told he was fortunate to not be sent off after an altercation with Erling Haaland during Manchester City’s clash against Arsenal.
Gary Neville and former Premier League referee Mike Dean both shared similar verdicts on his conduct. The former said on Sky Sports: “I think they have both gone head to head, there’s not excessive force by Gabriel but he has just put head his head towards a little bit more.
“I think the way the game has gone with those two, I think a yellow card is probably just about right. I wouldn’t have been surprised had Gabriel been sent off, there is a a movement.”
Dean added: “Looking at it again, Gabriel is very lucky not to be sent off.”
The Premier League Match Centre on X wrote: “#MCIARS – 83′ The referee’s call of no red card was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action from Gabriel deemed not to be excessively aggressive or violent.”
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The duo had clashed on several occasions in the huge title match at Etihad Stadium with one incident seeing Haaland’s shirt ripped completely off his body.
City striker Haaland had earlier bullied Gabriel on his way to scoring City’s decisive second goal with Rayan Cherki’s superb opener cancelled out by a bizarre Kai Havertz strike.
The latter had a golden opportunity to net another equaliser but he guided his header narrowly over the bar. Before City’s winning goal, Eberechi Eze struck the post with Gabriel also heading against the upright midway through the second half.
Arsenal largely struggled to stamp their mark on the game with their nervousness on display after just a few minutes when David Raya nearly surrendered possession inside his own box.
Neville was left particularly angered by how the Gunners played in the opening stages and made that perfectly clear on commentary.
He said: “”That could not happen for Arsenal, what the hell are you playing at?
“The one thing that you would say Arsenal cannot do in the first five or ten minutes is play a stupid little pass along their six-yard box and they have gone and done it.”
Neville also had plenty to say on a different controversial decision that was checked by VAR with a Cherki shot appearing to hit Gabriel’s arm, though replays showed it did not.
The Sky Sports pundit said: “It’s been cleared. He just sort of leans down doesn’t he, Gabriel. Maybe it’s a shoulder, it’s not easy to see what part of the arm/shoulder it is. It’s high up, you can see why they’ve waved it on.”
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