Journalist Jordan Davies has now given his verdict on one incident involving Gabriel Magalhaes that occurred during Arsenal 2-2 Bayern Munich.
Gabriel Magalhaes should perhaps consider himself fortunate not to have given away a penalty when Arsenal hosted Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.
This was a game packed with incident and contentious moments. Arsenal fans are adamant that Harry Kane ought to have been sent off for an elbow on Gabriel.
Former Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand is convinced that Bukayo Saka should have been given a penalty when he collided with Manuel Neuer in the box late on. However, ex-West Ham United forward Paolo Di Canio took an alternative view in this debate as he branded the Arsenal man a “baby,” and accused him of throwing his own leg out to initiate contact with the Bayern Munich goalkeeper.
Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel was also convinced that his side deserved a spot-kick of their own after Gabriel bizarrely handled the ball in the Arsenal box.
Should Arsenal have conceded a penalty v Bayern Munich due to Gabriel Magalhaes moment of madness?
Mikel Arteta has clearly set specific instructions for how his team are meant to execute their goal kicks. When playing short and looking to build up from the back, David Raya tends to hand the ball to Gabriel, who then sets it down and passes it to goalkeeper, initiating the resumption of play.
On one occasion against Bayern Munich, though, this routine became confused. After the referee’s whistle had been blown to restart play, Raya passed the ball to the Brazilian, who bent down and picked it up.
The Bayern Munich players, clearly recognising that play had already restarted, appealed for a penalty, whilst the Arsenal man promptly set the ball back down and re-took the goal kick.
By the letter of the law, of course, the German giants should have been given a penalty. However, given none of their players were anywhere near the ball at the time, neither side received any advantage or disadvantage from the moment of confusion. It would have been incredibly harsh to exact such a brutal punishment on the Gunners over what was ultimately an entirely immaterial infraction. At least, that was the view of the referee, who waved for play to continue.
Gabriel Magalhaes accused of ‘brainfart’ v Bayern Munich
However, Jordan Davies thinks that the North London club got incredibly lucky. Speaking on The Arsenal Beat podcast, he was asked if he thought a penalty should have been given to the visitors.
The reporter replied, “yes. Yeah, absolutely. It sets a dangerous precedent…it’s not as if you couldn’t hear the whistle. I just think Gabriel has heard the whistle and he’s had a braindead moment and thought, ‘I’m going to pick this ball up,’ because that’s what they normally do.”
“He’s had a complete brainfart and picked it up. You can see if you watch it back, when Gabriel picks it up, David Raya looks at Gabriel as if to say ‘what on earth have you just done?’ Then they quickly just play on. It sets a dangerous precedent for saying that you can pick the ball up in the box and saying ‘sorry ref, I didn’t hear your whistle.’ It has to be a penalty.”
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