Mikel Arteta has revealed that Gabriel Magalhaes 'honestly wanted' to take Arsenal's fifth penalty against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final. The Gunners centre-back stepped up for a must-score spot-kick but blazed his effort over the bar, handing PSG the trophy and breaking Arsenal hearts.
Henry's Reaction
Fans and pundits alike questioned why a centre-back would take such a decisive penalty, even with regular takers such as Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard having been substituted. Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was among them and said on CBS Sports: 'I always say when you go and take the penalty I will always have respect for you. I don't know why he went, I don't know how he arrived to be the fifth guy but he went. How he played all season and tonight was immense. But he missed it. But he didn't hide.'
Arteta's Explanation
In his post-match press conference, Arteta gave Henry an answer. 'He wanted to take number five, honestly,' the Gunners boss explained. 'We have prepared and trained for this moment. Normally, the penalty takers would be Bukayo, Martin, Kai for sure. We knew that if we got extra time on penalties, the penalty takers would be different players, still with the quality when you see Ebz (Eberechi Eze) take penalties in training, he doesn't miss any, but then you have to do in this moment. It's unfortunate not to have the same precision and efficiency that they had and that's the reason that we haven't won.'
Shootout Details
Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya had rectified Eze's miss by saving Nuno Mendes' penalty before Declan Rice made it 3-3 in the shootout. PSG's Lucas Beraldo stepped up to restore the French giants' lead before Gabriel missed the target. The Brazilian had arguably been Arsenal's best player in the final, restricting PSG to only a few half-chances. Havertz had put Arteta's side 1-0 up with just six minutes on the clock in Budapest before Ousmane Dembele equalised with a penalty midway through the second half following a foul by Cristhian Mosquera.
Nothing could separate the teams before it went to a penalty shootout, with Eze and Gabriel's misses proving fatal. 'To miss a penalty in a Champions League final, obviously it's not nice,' Rice told TNT Sports. '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.'
