Gabriel Magalhaes has taken another opportunity to stamp his authority over Erling Haaland after limiting the Manchester City striker to just 23 touches during the 0-0 draw on Sunday.
Alongside William Saliba, the Arsenal defenders ensured that the Premier League’s leading marksman had little to play with.
Haaland was one of several frustrated City players during a cagey 90 minutes that had little in terms of goalmouth action but plenty of tension in a game that could have swung the title race.
Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne were also unable to impact proceedings despite their side dominating the ball.
Such was the dominance of a stern Arsenal defence, Gabriel and Saliba were picked out for their roles by Gary Neville after the match.
“I’ve never seen a team make it so difficult for Manchester City in the final third – there just didn’t seem to be any spaces,” Neville said post-match.
“You see De Bruyne getting his head up to get that ball into the box, there just didn’t seem to be anywhere.” He added: “Last year without Saliba they were harmed and that has been proven today.
To me today Saliba was immense, so was Gabriel, and the work ethic of the two wide players and two forwards was incredible.
“They really ganged up on Haaland – it was a classic ‘one go tight, the other drop off’, old-fashioned tactic.
But, they had a lot of players around them that enabled them to do that. They had the full-backs narrow and tight, the midfield compact with them, then the two forward players when was needed tucked in.
“If you’re playing against world class players it often baffles me, don’t be embarrassed and think you need to double up.
You have to get someone else with you and that’s what Jesus did. [Gabriel] Jesus got [Jakub] Kiwior out of a lot of trouble today. He was having a difficult game early on, Jesus right next to him and [Bukayo] Saka next to Ben White. They had a brilliant game.”
Gabriel’s commanding display was also summed up by the confrontation between the pair after match. Following on from a coming-together when Haaland felt he had been hauled to the ground inside the Arsenal area, Gabriel made his presence felt as he shouted in the face of the his rival Martin Keown-Ruud van Nistelrooy style.
After the game, when both sets of players were trying to analyse just how valuable a point/much of a missed opportunity the game was, Gabriel and Haaland clashed again. They were involved in a passionate war of words, albeit largely in good spirits, but often hugging each other with a little bit of frustration.
Pep Guardiola and Declan Rice were eventually brought over to split the minor incident up as Gabriel was left with a simple, “good game,” from Haaland before moving on. That isn’t the end of their battle, though, as the Brazilian took to social media afterwards, revelling in his personal victory.
“Still a lot to play! Hungry for more! [bicep emoji]” he posted on Instagram afterwards. Alongside his fighting words were two images of himself getting the better of Haaland, first in a ground duel and then leaping for a header.
Haaland himself took to social media afterwards, writing, “We’ve done it once, we can do it again!” He also included images of the individual work against Gabriel, but neither of his images seemed to involve the defender getting the better of him.
