Gary Lineker has delivered a brutal verdict after both Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhaes missed from the spot as Arsenal lost the Champions League final to Paris Saint-Germain
Gary Lineker has launched a foul-mouthed rant after Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhaes missed penalties during Arsenal’s Champions League final shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Following a 1-1 draw after extra-time, Arsenal’s fate in the showpiece Budapest final was decided by a penalty shootout. Although David Raya made a phenomenal save to keep out Nuno Mendes’ spot-kick, Eze and Gabriel both missed from 12 yards as PSG ran out 4-3 winners on penalties.
Eze has since drawn criticism for attempting a stutter run-up before firing his effort wide of the target. Gabriel then took Arsenal’s fifth spot-kick but blazed his attempt over the bar. Viktor Gyokeres, Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli were the players to score a penalty for the Gunners.
Delivering his reaction to Eze and Gabriel’s missed penalties, Lineker appeared to jump to their defence, claiming no-one would have said a word if either scored from the spot.
Ex-Tottenham forward Lineker told the Rest Is Football: “Someone’s always got to miss. I will say, as I always say – give them credit for being prepared to put themselves on the line under severe pressure.
“I see Eberechi Eze has got a bit of stick because of his stuttering [run-up] and he’s missed a couple before like that. But I will also say that if he’d have scored, nobody would have uttered a f****** word.
“Some of the penalty takers Arsenal would probably want to take them – I can think immediately of Saka – were not on the pitch, so was [Gabriel] originally planned to be number five? Possibly not. Again, if he’d have scored, no-one would have… it’s so easy after the event!”
Former Manchester City full-back Micah Richards offered a different view, saying Gabriel looked nervous as he stepped up to take the spot-kick and believes Noni Madueke should have taken one instead.
Madueke was one of the five Arsenal outfielders available that didn’t take a spot-kick in the shootout, with Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Piero Hincapie the other four.
Richards said: “When Gabriel stepped up though… I don’t want to say he looked nervous because you can probably say that about every player that stepped up. But I was wondering what technique he was going to use. So, when you’re a defender and you’re approaching a penalty – defenders’ union and all that – we’d say just hit it as hard as you can. And when he was running up and taking it, he didn’t look confident, you know?
“It was almost like he just wanted to get it over and done with. Can’t remember who was sat next to me but they said ‘Gabriel’s going to hit this as hard as he possibly can and it’s going to go over the bar.’ It’s exactly what happened as well, you just got the sense, the feeling.
“But like you said, fair play to him for stepping up. He wanted to lead by example. But I would have liked to see Madueke take one. You know, a technician. Like you say, it’s easy to say after the event, but you’ve got the players who have better technique – they played in a forward position because they have better technique. Even if you’re nervous, your probability is higher because of your technical level.”
The result denied Arsenal the chance to win their first-ever Champions League title, though the Gunners still celebrated on Sunday as they held a open top bus parade for winning the Premier League last month.
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