Gabriel Magalhaes had a scary moment during Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Fulham when the VAR checked his goal to see if it might have been a handball.
Gabriel Magalhaes, a defender for Arsenal, said that he prayed to God when he thought his winning goal against Fulham would be taken away because of a handball.
Gabriel’s night at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday was like a roller coaster, but he won in the end with a 2-1 win. After Aleksandar Mitrovic stole the ball from him to set up Fulham’s first goal in the second half, he was seen as the bad guy of the night. Gabriel said after the game, “My head was down after I lost the ball.” “But when I look at my brothers, they tell me, “Gabby, let’s go!”
But Martin Odegaard tied it up eight minutes later with a shot that was deflected. Gabriel then had a chance to make things right. Bernd Leno, who used to play for Arsenal, missed Gabriel Martinelli’s corner kick, and Gabriel put the ball into an empty net after it fell.
His goal in the 85th minute turned out to be the game-winner, but Gabriel had to wait a while while VAR checked the goal for any mistakes. As the ball fell, it came close to his and William Saliba’s hands, and Fulham’s players wondered if Leno had been fouled.
Gabriel’s knee slide by the corner flag wasn’t a mistake, and he went from zero to hero by helping Arsenal keep their perfect Premier League record. But after the game, when talking to Sky Sports, the Brazilian defender said he was worried because he had asked referee Jarred Gillett why VAR was being used.
“When I scored, the referee said “handball,” so I just prayed to God. I’m so glad my team won and we got three points. This is the Premier League, so big fights are to be expected. I’m so happy.”
Gabriel made up for his earlier mistake, which made the Arsenal players happy. “”He has a lot of personality,” Bukayo Saka said on BBC Match of the Day. “He had every right to win.”
He added: “We had to hold out. Fulham should get credit for making things hard for us. We got what we wanted in the end, so we’re happy. Eddie Nketiah really changed things for us. I’m happy with what he’s done, and I’m sure he’ll help us score a lot of goals this season.
“We all want to win every game so badly. We’ll keep going like this for the rest of the season. We are aware of how hard the Premier League is. We’re only thinking about the next game, and the game after that, and the game after that.”
With 12 points from their first four games, Arsenal are on top of the Premier League. They are two points ahead of both Manchester City, which beat Crystal Palace 4-2 despite being down 2-0, and Brighton, which beat Leeds 1-0. Next, Mikel Arteta’s team will play at home against Aston Villa on Wednesday. The following week, they will go to Old Trafford to play Manchester United.
