Gabriel called it "a war" in response to Erling Haaland throwing the ball at his head as the Arsenal man issued a warning to Manchester City.
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City clawed back a point against ArsenalJohn Stones scored a stoppage-time equaliserGabriel warned City that Arsenal are "waiting"Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Despite being reduced to ten men following Leandro Trossard's red card, Arsenal fought valiantly to hold onto a 2-1 lead until deep in stoppage time. However, City managed to claw their way back into the game with John Stones scoring the equaliser for Pep Guardiola’s side.
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The late goal sparked tempers and a fired-up Haaland threw the ball at Gabriel’s head in a provocative gesture. After the final whistle, players from both teams exchanged heated words and Haaland was even caught on camera telling Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to “stay humble.”
WHAT GABRIEL SAID
However, Gabriel kept his composure and downplayed the incident after the match.
"I don’t even remember this," Gabriel remarked in an interview with TNT Sports Brazil.
"It’s normal, they were happy after scoring in the last minute. They were playing at home, so their duty was to win the match, but our team did really well to resist. It’s a battle, a war, so it’s normal to have provocative acts in football, it’s part of the game. Now this is over and we are waiting for them at our ground.”
DID YOU KNOW?
The incident was reviewed by VAR at the time, but it was deemed not to be an act of violent conduct. As such, the FA has also decided not to impose any retrospective punishment on the Manchester City forward.