Mikel Arteta says Gabriel Magalhaes asked to take the crucial fifth penalty in the Champions League final shootout, before blazing his effort over the crossbar.
The Gunners drew 1-1 with Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest, with an early Kai Havertz goal cancelled out by an Ousmane Dembele penalty in the second half.
PSG dominated possession and created more chances, but Arsenal defended impressively and took the game all the way to the shootout.
There was an early blow for the Premier League side as Eberechi Eze sent his spot-kick wide of the post, but David Raya then kept out Nuno Mendes’ penalty.
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With the defending champions taking the first penalty, it came down to Gabriel’s fifth to take the shootout into sudden death.
However, the Brazilian defender blazed his shot over the bar and PSG’s wild celebrations could begin.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was surprised to see the centre-back stepping forward to take the critical spot-kick.
‘I always say when you go and take the penalty I will always have respect for you,’ Henry told CBS Sports.
‘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 says Gabriel put his hand up at the crucial moment, with a number of more regular penalty-takers having already been substituted.
‘He wanted to take number five,’ Arteta told a post-match press conference. ‘Obviously we have prepared and training this moment.
‘Normally the penalty-takers will be Bukayo [Saka], will be Martin [Odegaard], will be Kai [Havertz] for sure and we knew that if we go to extra time and penalties the penalty-takers will be different players, but still with quality.
‘When you have Ebs [Eze] take penalties in training he doesn’t miss any. But then you have to do it in this moment and unfortunately not to have the same prevision and efficiency that they had.’
Gunners midfielder Declan Rice told TNT Sports: ‘To miss a penalty in a Champions League final, obviously it’s not nice. 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.’
There was penalty controversy earlier in the contest, when Noni Madueke went down in the box after a clumsy challenge from Mendes in extra time.
The referee gave nothing and VAR did not step in, with there certainly contact between the players, but it not being entirely clear who instigated it and if it was enough to put the Arsenal winger on the deck.
Arteta reckons his team were unlucky, though, having studied the decisions that have been given earlier in the tournament.
‘I watch all the penalties in the competition the last 72 hours to understand what is a penalty and what is not and that easily can be a penalty,’ he said.
‘If, if, if is not what happened and that’s it. We need to do better, have to improve and find different margins to find the outcome we want.’
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