Gabriel Magalhaes showed a lot of character but he was fine, admits Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta has revealed that Gabriel Magalhaes showed a lot of character as he was confronted by baseball bat-wielding robbers at his home in August. The Arsenal defender was ambushed returning to his residence after a night out in his car along with Arsenal team-mate Nuno Tavares.
Gabriel signed for Arsenal from Lille in the summer of 2020 for a reported fee of ÂŁ27 million after add-ons. The Brazilian centre-back has established himself as one of the consistent presences in the Arsenal backline as he has gone to make 42 appearances for the Gunners while scoring four goals and registering one assist across all competitions. The 23-year-old defender was ambushed by baseball bat-wielding robbers at his home in August after a night out in his car alongside team-mate Nuno Tavares. Â
CCTV footage has emerged with the video showing two masked men approaching Gabriel after he steps out of his vehicle and into his garage. Gabriel had initially held his hands in the air and removed his watch but reacted quickly to punch the intruder in the face after he lunged forward to strike with the bat. One of the robbers dropped off his hat in the process which allowed the police to identify him via DNA. The footage was recently released to the public and Arteta lauded the 23-year-old for his character.Â
"Obviously it is not a nice thing to go through when you have family involved and they are trying to access your house. Gabi showed a lot of character, you see the reaction he had straight away. Credit to the boy. After that he was fine,” Arteta said in his pre-match press conference.
"Obviously he was shocked, there were a few things he wanted to change in his life to try to prevent those things happening and the club gave him all the support that was needed to try to forget about the situation, learn from it and move on," he added.