There are moments in a title-winning season that live long in the memory, sometimes even for the wrong reasons.
Back in February Arsenal were 2-0 up against bottom-placed Wolves at the Molineux and were cruising towards three points. But the Gunners let their lead slip, and deep into stoppage time, a cross into the Arsenal box caused a catastrophic collision between David Raya and Gabriel Magalhaes.
You all remember it, obviously. Raya came out off his line to claim the cross, Gabriel retreated into the same space, and the two players clashed in the middle of a crowd of bodies. The ball dropped and Tom Edozie reacted fastest, thumping an effort that deflected in off Riccardo Calafiori in the 94th minute of the game.
Arsenal dropped two points and their lead over Manchester City was reduced to five, ramping up the pressure and outside scrutiny of ‘bottling it’.
At the time, it felt like a monumental blow, and one that would painfully replay in the minds of Arsenal fans for years to come — like when Wojciech Szczesny had a mixup with Laurent Koscielny in the 2011 League Cup final.
Fortunately, the result didn’t end up costing Mikel Arteta’s side the title, of course. But it’s an interesting one to look back on. And now we have some insight on what was actually said between the two players after the incident.
David Raya reveals what Gabriel told him after the Wolves mistake
Speaking on Beyond The Box, Raya recalled the moment: “Basically I was trying to do the right thing — to come for that cross. But then obviously Gabby’s in the middle, we collided, dropped the ball on the floor, and then they scored. You can say it’s my fault because I dropped it, you can say it’s his fault because he’s in the middle and he should have moved.”
Raya then revealed what Gabriel said to him after the game. “We had a few words — with emotions and everything, nothing personal — and he just said to me, ‘Next time, just f***ing drop me over. Just kill me. I don’t care.'”
Continuing, the Arsenal goalkeeper said: “It’s just football. You cannot explain every single action. The outcome is we lost points and maybe that put a little bit more pressure on us. But we handled that pressure and we won the Premier League. I could have done better, 100%. Gabby could have done better as well. But that’s football, it’s unpredictable. You learn and it’s gone.”
They learned. They moved on. And thankfully, they won the league.