Gabriel Martinelli became the first Arsenal player to score in five consecutive Champions League appearances on Wednesday night, but he has a way to go to beat the competition record.
Gabriel Martinelli netted Arsenal’s third goal in their away win over Club Brugge on Wednesday night, helping the Gunners to maintain their 100% start to the Champions League campaign.
But more than just helping his team to increase their goal difference and secure three points, Martinelli was also setting a club record, scoring for the fifth consecutive Champions League match.
No Arsenal player has ever managed to score in five straight Champions League games before, so Martinelli now holds the record outright.
Unfortunately, Martinelli is quite some way off matching the competition’s overall record, which stands at 11 games.
If the Brazilian international wanted to match that record as soon as possible, he’d need to score away to Inter Milan, home to Kairat Almaty, and then net both home and away in the round-of-16 and the quarter-finals. Another goal in the semi would then make him the competition’s outright record holder.
Arsenal fans would surely welcome such a run of form, but the 24-year-old is currently less than halfway to the target, and the matches are only going to get more difficult when the knockouts kick off.
Even so, it’s good for Martinelli to have the ongoing run for motivation. He was evidently aware of it during the game, holding up five fingers as he celebrated his goal and posting “five in a row” on Instagram afterwards.
Whether or not the winger ultimately breaks the competition record, every game he continues to score will at least extend Arsenal’s club record. More importantly, it could earn the team more points and a continuing run through the tournament.