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Gabriel Magalhaes is aiming to win his first major trophy at Arsenal since joining nearly six years ago
Gabriel Magalhaes says Arsenal are “ready” to take the next step and win their first trophy in nearly six years in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday afternoon. The Gunners will face a Manchester City side who have conquered every competition, while Mikel Arteta and his squad hope this will be the first of many.
Speaking ahead of the clash at Wembley, it was clear the Brazilian centre-half was relishing the opportunity to lock horns with their Premier League rivals.
“I think it's a really good feeling for this club to be in the final against a top team as well,” he said. “We have a good feeling, and we can't wait for Sunday.”
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Arsenal are the only English club that can still realistically win all four competitions, with their League Cup opponents Man City dumped out of the Champions League this week by Real Madrid.
The Gunners put on one of their best performances of the season, scoring twice against Bayer Leverkusen to progress to the quarter-finals. Gabriel has been involved in 19 clean sheets across all competitions for matches in which he has started. It is, therefore, perhaps no surprise to hear him speak so assertively of his side’s desire to win every single game.
“Like we said before, we are in all competitions,” Gabriel said. “So, of course, we want to win every game. Every game we want to play, we want to win.
“I think we are very excited for this game. We know it's going to be a big battle, but we are ready for this and try to win of course.”Joining in 2020, Gabriel was Arteta’s first major investment after becoming head coach.
Speaking upon his arrival as a 22-year-old, Gabriel said: “I hope I can contribute to win many titles with the Arsenal shirt.”
Now 28, victory at Wembley would be the first major trophy that the former Lille defender lifts wearing the famous red and white. Despite the wait, Gabriel revealed that in his mind, there was a vision of finals, even if it might have taken slightly longer to eventually get here.
“Yes, of course,” he admitted. “When I joined the club, the project was really good. And yes, we know how big Arsenal is. Of course, I'm here to win trophies. Like I say, we learn a lot, and now we have the opportunity.”
Asked whether his side had needed to suffer the pain of coming so close to winning titles in order to succeed, it was evident those experiences were driving the defender and his team toward their ultimate goals across all competitions.
“This is a hard question,” he said honestly. “But I think we learned a lot in the past.
“Of course, we work very hard to win. Like I said, we want to win every game, but we know the Premier League is the toughest league to play.
“The last three years we didn’t get it, but I think this year we start [well]. Of course, we try to do our best. I think we are in a good moment. Just keep doing what we’re doing and let’s see how it ends.”
English (US) ·