Gabriel Magalhaes missed the final penalty in Arsenal’s defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final
Arsenal star Gabriel Magalhaes has been shown support in the days after the defender’s missed penalty in the Champions League final. The Gunners were beaten by Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday in Budapest after losing in a penalty shootout at the Puskas Arena.
The final finished 1-1 after extra time, and Arsenal went on to lose the shootout 4-3, with PSG winning their second consecutive European Cup.
Gabriel missed the fifth and final penalty for Arsenal in the shootout, while Eberechi Eze also missed the target from the spot.
Less than 48 hours after Gabriel missed the penalty, The Athletic have reported that the defender has seen shirt sales for his name dramatically increase.
The report says that Arsenal shirts with ‘Gabriel No. 6’ on the back increased by 350% in the two days following Arsenal’s defeat in the Champions League final.
It has been stated that Gabriel’s name quickly became the most popular in Arsenal shirt sales over the weekend, and was even around double that of any other name at one point.
Viktor Gyokeres, Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli all scored their penalties in the shootout, while Gabriel and Eze did not find the back of the net.
Arteta was asked about Gabriel being given the fifth and final penalty in the shootout and went on to explain the reasons behind choosing who would take the spot-kicks at the Puskas Arena.
“He wanted to take number five, obviously,” Arteta told reporters after the defeat in Budapest. “We have prepared and trained [for] this moment.
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“Normally the penalty takers would be Bukayo [Saka], would be Martin [Odegaard], would be Kai [Havertz] for sure and we knew that if we go to extra time and penalties, the penalty takers would be different players.
“Still, with the quality, when you’ve got Ebz [Eze] taking penalties in training, he doesn’t miss any. But then you have to do it in this moment.
“We’ve been unfortunate not to have the same precision and efficiency that they had and that’s the reason that we haven’t won it.”
Gabriel posted a message of his own on social media the day after Arsenal’s defeat in Hungary.
“It’s painful, but I’m proud of this team and everything we achieved together this season.
“Thank you to our incredible fans for your support every step of the way. You deserve to celebrate this journey with us and enjoy the parade today!
“See you next season!!! Love, Big Gabi.”
