Brazil boss Carlo Ancelotti praised Gabriel Martinelli following the Arsenal winger’s winning goal against Japan on Monday night.
Arsenal’s first two players to feature in the World Cup last-32 faced a serious scare as Brazil took on Japan on Monday night, as Kaishu Sano gave Japan a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute.
Fortunately, Gabriel Magalhaes’ cross was headed home by Casemiro in the 56th minute, before Gabriel Martinelli came off the bench to slide home a winner in the 96th minute.
OptaJoe reports that the goal was the latest winning goal in normal time of the World Cup knockouts on record, and Japan were left with no chance to respond.
Brazil boss Carlo Ancelotti was grateful to the Arsenal forward for his late winner, praising the player’s impact off the bench.
“It was mainly to bring a bit of freshness to the field,” Ancelotti said of the decision to bring on Martinelli. “Martinelli has a lot of intensity.
“It’s a very, very important change because when he comes on, he’s always at his best and he helps the team by scoring goals.”
Arsenal fans also noticed that Gabriel shared an embrace with former Gunner Takehiro Tomiyasu after the game, consoling the Japan defender after his team’s elimination.
Brazil now await the winner of Ivory Coast’s match against Norway, meaning a potential matchup for the two Gabriels against their club captain Martin Odegaard.
The Norway match is at 18:00 BST on Tuesday, June 30th, so they won’t have to wait long to find out the winner.
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