Gabriel Magalhaes has been included in WhoScored’s Champions League Team of the League Phase, with Arsenal impressing defensively in the competition.
Following the completion of the Champions League’s League Phase earlier this week, WhoScored released their Team of the League Phase, including Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes.
WhoScored argue that Gabriel earned his place by helping Arsenal maintain “the competition’s second-strongest defence”. They highlight that the Gunners conceded just three goals in eight matches, with Gabriel managing the best aerial duel win rate of any player to contest 20 aerials or more.
For anyone wondering, Inter Milan were the only team to concede fewer goals than Arsenal, letting in just one across their eight matches. The Gunners still managed to pip Inter to third though, despite losing to Simone Inzaghi’s side via a dodgy penalty at the San Siro.
Arsenal were arguably a little unlucky not to concede the fewest goals in the League Phase, given WhoScored report that the team conceded the fewest expected goals – 5.95.
But just as the match between Inter and Arsenal showed, expected goals don’t always translate to actual goals.
Gabriel started seven of Arsenal’s eight League Phase games, scoring against Sporting CP and helping the team to clean sheets against Atalanta, PSG, Shakhtar Donetsk, and GNK Dinamo.
The task, as always, is to carry Arsenal’s good European form into the knockout stages. It’s all well and good winning six of eight games in the League Phase, but lose once in the next stage and you could be out.