BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) \u2014 Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es looked to the sky, covered his face with his hands, and lifted his sweat-soaked Arsenal jersey over his head.<\/p>\n
Within seconds, the Brazil defender was being consoled by his international teammate Marquinhos, the guy who would soon be lifting the European Cup for Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n
One of the greatest seasons in Arsenal\u2019s 140-year history had just ended in the most painful of fashions \u2014 a loss in a penalty shootout in the Champions League final \u2014 and it was Gabriel who missed the decisive spot kick.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens, it\u2019s football,\u201d Arsenal star Declan Rice said, \u201cand it\u2019s cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n
No Arsenal player deserved to suffer the pain of missing the crucial penalty in the biggest club match in the game, and perhaps least of all Gabriel.<\/p>\n
He has been the rock at the heart of the best defense in club soccer, one that had conceded just six goals in 14 Champions League games heading into the final.<\/p>\n
One that kept clean sheets in half of Arsenal\u2019s 38 games in the team\u2019s run to a first Premier League title in 22 years.<\/p>\n
One that held firm against wave after wave of attacks by the best attacking team in Europe in the Puskas Arena on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cGabriel \u2014 I\u2019ve ran out of words for him as a person, as a player,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n
And it was the mark of the man that Gabriel chose to take Arsenal\u2019s fifth penalty of the shootout. That is typically the one where a shootout gets won or lost, and this one was needed to keep Arsenal alive after an earlier miss by Eberechi Eze.<\/p>\n
Gabriel took a deep breath, took a wide run-up to the ball \u2014 stuttering slightly at one point \u2014 and blazed his shot over the crossbar.<\/p>\n
Arsenal, a club that has specialized in near misses in recent years, added another one to the list.<\/p>\n
Manager Mikel Arteta was asked how he felt after the heartbreaking 4-3 shootout loss and used just one word.<\/p>\n
\u201cPain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d soon use another: \u201cPride.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I said to the players and the staff is that if I said one million times \u2018Thank you,\u2019 it\u2019s not going to be enough,\u201d Arteta said.<\/p>\n
Still, this was another season of huge progress by Arsenal.<\/p>\n
A first Premier League title since Arsene Wenger\u2019s \u201cInvincibles\u201d of 2004.<\/p>\n
A first Champions League final appearance in 20 years.<\/p>\n
A domestic cup final, albeit a loss to Manchester City in the English League Cup.<\/p>\n
The Gunners can justifiably call themselves the best team in England once again.<\/p>\n
They were almost the best team in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to go through that pain, digest it, and turn it into fuel,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cImprove and reach a different level, because it will demand a different level with the quality that is around Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arsenal has been criticized by some for its pragmatic and often dour style of play under Arteta, but the team might be ready to evolve.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all I will take a few days with my family and then we will start the process to review what we\u2019ve done, and start to make some very important decisions if we want to reach another level,\u201d Arteta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to have to show that ambition, because we are more than capable of doing it. But you have to demand to be very, very ambitious, and act very fast and very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/p>\n
Steve Douglas, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) \u2014 Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es looked to the sky, covered his face with his hands, and lifted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-704689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}