Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes recalls ‘genius’ moment v Man Utd and reveals secret

Arsenal star Gabriel Magalhaes says his offside trap against Manchester United was ‘genius’ and his favourite personal moment of the 2023-24 season.

The Brazilian centre-back has revealed a big secret, too, confirming that he had already been sold to Everton before he ended up joining Arsenal back in 2020.

Those updates come from a new interview Gabriel has given to Brazilian YouTube channel Cartolouco, in which he also speaks about his love for the song Arsenal fans have for him and names Erling Haaland as one of his toughest opponents.

The Gunners and Gabriel endured a tough campaign as they narrowly missed out on the Premier League title to Manchester City for the second year in a row, adding only the Community Shield to their trophy cabinet.

Gabriel, though, is keen to focus on the positives and is particularly proud of the offside trap he produced in Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over United in September, describing it as ‘genius’.

The match was highly controversial and saw United boss Erik ten Hag complaining about certain decisions months later, once in March and again in May.

Alejandro Garnacho thought he had netted an 88th-minute winner at the Emirates but the United star was denied by a close VAR offside call before Arsenal scored twice in added time.

‘We should have had a penalty for a foul on Rasmus Hojlund,’ Ten Hag said in March.

‘Then we scored with Garnacho, disallowed. Then we concede a goal which should have always been disallowed.

‘Such moments can help you. Every team needs its moment in a season. We never had it. But this could be the moment.’

‘Confidence is a great thing,’ Ten Hag added in May. ‘This season we almost didn’t get the turning point, now we can make a step through.

‘I remember the Arsenal game and in the 87th minute, I thought we won it. That could have given a big lift to the team.

‘We never got this but a game like [the 3-2 win over Newcastle on May 15] will help us, especially the young players. It will give us lots of confidence.’