It was not a beautiful Champions League final. Paris Saint-Germain were to be admired for the relentlessness of their attacking commitment even if their execution was lacking. Arsenal were to be admired for the sheer bloody-minded doggedness of their defending, even if their ambition was lacking.
But for beauty, we had to wait until after Gabriel, Arsenal’s colossus, had lifted the decisive kick of the penalty shoot-out high over the bar. The first person to reach him was not an Arsenal team-mate but PSG’s captain, Marquinhos, who chose to console him rather than celebrate with the rest of the delirious winning side.
Marquinhos and Gabriel are likely to start together in Brazil’s central defence at the World Cup a fortnight from now. The PSG captain, who missed a penalty for Brazil in their defeat to Croatia at the World Cup in Qatar, chose sportsmanship and humanity above personal triumph in the moment of PSG’s jubilation at winning the Champions League for the second season in succession.
Those few moments shared between them are what will remain longest in the memory from this final. It was an instinctive moment of empathy reminiscent of Andrew Flintoff consoling Brett Lee after England had earned a dramatic victory over Australia in the Second Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2005.
Gabriel, let’s face it, is not a player who usually excites sympathy in neutral observers. Rugged, combative, querulous and uncompromising, he is normally the man the rest of the league loves to hate. He is the symbol of an Arsenal team, champions who neutrals have found hard to love.
Marquinhos and Gabriel are likely to start together in Brazil’s central defence at the World Cup a fortnight from now
But he deserved sympathy on Saturday night. He had been Arsenal’s best player in the final, the man who had done more than any other to keep PSG at bay, the brick wall that the French champions could not find a way past, the indomitable leader who took his underdog team to the very brink of an unlikely triumph.
And now he takes his place alongside the other great penalty shoot-out fall-guys, men like Roberto Baggio, who skied the critical kick in the 1994 World Cup final, Gareth Southgate, whose penalty against Germany at the end of their Euro96 semi-final was saved, and John Terry, who missed a penalty for Chelsea in the shoot-out at the end of the 2008 Champions League final.
‘What happened will haunt me for the rest of my life,’ Terry said later. It took Stuart Pearce, who missed a penalty in England’s 1990 World Cup semi-final against West Germany, six years and a thumping spot kick against Spain, to exorcise the ghosts of that night in Turin.
Southgate was haunted by his miss, too. His chosen method of exorcism was to turn the art of penalty-taking into a science when he became England manager and preparing his players exhaustively so that they would have the best chance of succeeding in a way he had been unable to. Southgate was vindicated when England beat Colombia in a shoot-out at the 2018 World Cup.
In that context, it feels like a throwback move to entrust the fifth penalty in Arsenal’s shoot-out to a central defender who had never taken a penalty for the club before and who volunteered for a penalty because he felt it was what a leader does.
It may be a blessing that Gabriel will not have much time to dwell on his miss. He will have a couple of days off and then head to the USA, Canada and Mexico with Brazil
In the club’s defence, Eberechi Eze had already missed a kick, and three of their more regular takers, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz had all been substituted but it was still surprising that a more data-driven approach had not been taken to a phase of the contest that was the difference between victory and defeat.
Pearce was at the Puskas Arena on Saturday evening, working as an analyst for talkSPORT. I asked him recently about that 1990 World Cup and where England had fallen short and he did not hesitate in identifying their failure to prepare properly for the penalty shoot-out as the prime factor. Will a similar regret haunt Arsenal?
Gabriel does not look like the type of character who will be haunted by the miss but maybe we should also have learned by now not to engage in such shallow judgments. It may be a blessing that he will not have much time to dwell on his miss. He will have a couple of days off and then head to the USA, Canada and Mexico with Brazil.
After that, he will be at the heart of Arsenal’s attempt to retain their Premier League title next season and establish a new era of domination at the Emirates. Arsenal will surely seek to evolve from the side that could only manage 25% of possession against PSG but this is a team built on a granite defence and that will not change.
Gabriel is 28 and in his prime. There is no reason why he and William Saliba should not be at the core of this Arsenal team for the next four or five years. With David Raya behind them and Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori flanking them, they will remain the foundation for any future triumphs.
There has been no shortage of those mocking Gabriel for his miss but they are playing a dangerous game. With Arsenal’s rivals for the title next season in varying degrees of transition, with Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all having to adapt to a new manager, Gabriel’s best response to his misfortune will be to make his detractors repent at their leisure.
