Mikel Arteta praises Gabriel's 'character' after Brazilian defender fends off robbers in remarkable video
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Updated 01/12/2021 at 14:55 GMT
A man has been jailed for five years at Harrow Crown Court having been found guilty of robbery. CCTV footage showed two masked assailants, including one with a bat, being fought off by Gabriel. The Brazilian was at the time recovering from an injury that caused him to miss the first three games of Arsenal's Premier League season.
WATCH - Police footage of Arsenal's Gabriel fighting off masked robbers in baseball bat attack
Mikel Arteta has praised Gabriel Magalhaes’ “character” after the Brazilian defender fended off two masked thieves in August.
Abdereham Muse was jailed for five years after being charged with robbery having been identified from DNA left on his hat.
CCTV footage showed the two robbers trying to steal Gabriel’s phone, watch and car keys before Muse lunged at the defender and a friend with a bat.
However the Brazilian was able to strike his assailant in the face and remove his hat, and escaped without injury.
Gabriel has gone on to play a key role in Arsenal’s resurgent form and his manager suggested he deserved “credit” for his reaction.
“Obviously it’s not a nice thing to go through when you have family involved and they are trying to access you own house,” said Arteta.
“[Gabriel] showed a lot of character. You see the reaction that he had straight away. Credit to the boy.
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Arteta praises Gabriel for 'showing a lot of character' in fighting off home invaders
“And after that he was fine, obviously he was shocked, obviously there are a few things that he wanted to change in his life to try to prevent those things happening.
“And the club gave him the support that was needed to try and forget about the situation, learn from it and move on.”
Prosecutor Martin Lewis added: “No injuries were suffered but a great deal of shock was caused. They happened to pick on two victims who were very fit and able to look after themselves.”
At the time of the incident, Gabriel was absent with the knee injury that caused him to miss both Brazil’s Olympic football campaign and the first three fixtures of Arsenal’s Premier League season.
Gabriel earned his first call up to the senior Brazil squad in November having formed a solid partnership in central defence with Ben White, proving a steadying influence after a tough start to the season for Arteta.
Arsenal visit Manchester United on Thursday 2 December, with their opponents still under the interim management of Michael Carrick while Ralf Rangnick awaits a work visa.
Arteta is hopeful that he will be able to pick Bukayo Saka but admitted that the winger is touch and go for the encounter having suffered a thigh injury after scoring against Newcastle.
The Spaniard backed striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang despite the Gabon international’s recent run of four games without a goal, but admitted that he must start scoring soon to continue to prove his value to the club.
"The form of Auba is always going to be related to the goals that he scores," said Arteta. "He does many other things apart from scoring goals, but obviously, we need that contribution because goals are critical for our success.
"That's been shown in the last few years when we've been able to do that and that has to be his aim, to continue to do all the things that he's doing and then, in the right moments, put the ball in the net."
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