BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Gabriel Magalhães looked to the sky, covered his face with his hands, and lifted his sweat-soaked Arsenal jersey over his head.
Within seconds, the Brazil defender was being consoled by his international teammate Marquinhos, the guy who would soon be lifting the European Cup for Paris Saint-Germain.
One of the greatest seasons in Arsenal’s 140-year history had just ended in the most painful of fashions — a loss in a penalty shootout in the Champions League final — and it was Gabriel who missed the decisive spot kick.
“It happens, it’s football,” Arsenal star Declan Rice said, “and it’s cruel.”
No Arsenal player deserved to suffer the pain of missing the crucial penalty in the biggest club match in the game, and perhaps least of all Gabriel.
He has been the rock at the heart of the best defense in club soccer, one that had conceded just six goals in 14 Champions League games heading into the final.
One that kept clean sheets in half of Arsenal’s 38 games in the team’s run to a first Premier League title in 22 years.
One that held firm against wave after wave of attacks by the best attacking team in Europe in the Puskas Arena on Saturday.
“Gabriel — I’ve ran out of words for him as a person, as a player,” Rice said.
And it was the mark of the man that Gabriel chose to take Arsenal’s fifth penalty of the shootout. That is typically the one where a shootout gets won or lost, and this one was needed to keep Arsenal alive after an earlier miss by Eberechi Eze.
Gabriel took a deep breath, took a wide run-up to the ball — stuttering slightly at one point — and blazed his shot over the crossbar.
Arsenal, a club that has specialized in near misses in recent years, added another one to the list.
Manager Mikel Arteta was asked how he felt after the heartbreaking 4-3 shootout loss and used just one word.
“Pain,” he said.
He’d soon use another: “Pride.”
“What I said to the players and the staff is that if I said one million times ‘Thank you,’ it’s not going to be enough,” Arteta said.
Still, this was another season of huge progress by Arsenal.
A first Premier League title since Arsene Wenger’s “Invincibles” of 2004.
A first Champions League final appearance in 20 years.
A domestic cup final, albeit a loss to Manchester City in the English League Cup.
The Gunners can justifiably call themselves the best team in England once again.
They were almost the best team in Europe.
“You have to go through that pain, digest it, and turn it into fuel,” Arteta said. “Improve and reach a different level, because it will demand a different level with the quality that is around Europe.”
Arsenal has been criticized by some for its pragmatic and often dour style of play under Arteta, but the team might be ready to evolve.
“First of all I will take a few days with my family and then we will start the process to review what we’ve done, and start to make some very important decisions if we want to reach another level,” Arteta said.
“We are going to have to show that ambition, because we are more than capable of doing it. But you have to demand to be very, very ambitious, and act very fast and very smart.”
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