![Rock-solid William Saliba and Gabriel crumble at worst possible time for Arsenal](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/04/09/TELEMMGLPICT000373315526_17127038501260_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqUMOidX4jc5j_pgCRrJQyt8WcFx1us0i9_vu6DRsjAto.jpeg?imwidth=680)
William Saliba and Gabriel crumble at worst possible time for Arsenal
Two centre-backs were blamed for Bayern Munich’s first-half goals as the Germans hit back to turn Champions League tie around
![Rock-solid William Saliba and Gabriel crumble at worst possible time for Arsenal](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/04/09/TELEMMGLPICT000373315526_17127038501260_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqUMOidX4jc5j_pgCRrJQyt8WcFx1us0i9_vu6DRsjAto.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Mikel Arteta, clearly, could feel the nervous energy. After three minutes, he frantically gestured at his players to calm down. After nine minutes, he did so again. The Arsenal manager could see the anxiety in his players, most of whom had never before played at this rarefied level of European football, and he must have known that errors were coming.
What he could not have expected, though, was that his two centre-backs would be the players at fault. Months have passed since Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba made costly mistakes in front of their own goal but here, in Arsenal’s biggest European game for years, they both slipped up within just a few minutes of each other.
So much of Arsenal’s success this season has been built on the defensive wall provided by Saliba and Gabriel. For the majority of this campaign, they have been immovable. Too strong to outpower, too fast to outrun, too composed to fluster.
But Champions League knockout ties ask different questions of players. The matches flow at an unfamiliar pace, and a team of Bayern’s individual quality was always going to cause problems. When Gabriel and Saliba locked eyes with Harry Kane, Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry, they would have known this would be a challenge beyond the norm.
Perhaps it was fear that clouded the judgment of Gabriel, when he ran back onto a clearance and played a misjudged pass to Jakub Kiwior. It was only a half-error but, against players of Bayern’s quality, it was enough to cost his team a goal, converted stylishly by Gnabry.
Gabriel, it must be said, was not the only player at fault for Bayern’s equaliser. David Raya, the Arsenal goalkeeper, did not help the situation by needlessly rushing out of his goal. And Kiwior was on his heels, unable to move in time to collect the pass.
In their past seven matches before this meeting with Bayern, Arsenal had conceded only two goals. Here, they conceded two goals in just 14 minutes. The second started with Kiwior losing grip of Sane, who then surged forward at terrifying pace. In panic and desperation, Saliba slid in. He did not need to do it, and he did not do it well. Kane, inevitably, scored the penalty.
Throughout this season, Arsenal’s expected goals against in matches that Saliba and Gabriel have both started has been just 0.70. Against Bayern, that figure jumped to 2.08.
It feels brutally harsh to pin these goals on the two centre-backs, given their importance to this Arsenal team and their remarkable performances in recent months. Arsenal’s defensive record in the Premier League, lest we forget, is at least twice as good as any other team in 2024.
But that’s the thing about football at this level. It is brutal. That is the lesson, and it is one that Arsenal’s players must learn before the second leg in Germany.
“In the Champions League you cannot give anything to the opponent,” Arteta said. “We have given two goals today. When you have these situations they are going to punish you. The margins are very small in this competition. Against this opposition, especially when they have space, you know they can punish you. We have let them run. That’s something in the return leg that we have to do much better.”
Against lesser opponents, Saliba might have nicked the ball when he lunged towards Sane, or Gabriel’s wayward pass might not have been punished so ruthlessly. Against Bayern – perhaps not a great team, but certainly a team full of great players – these mistakes leave you helplessly exposed.