Manchester City against armory More than a cup final. sunday’s Carabao Cup The clash at Wembley marks the beginning of a two-month period in which English football’s two leading clubs can take all the domestic silverware between them.
Arsenal can still win the quadruple, and City can still win the domestic treble. Gunner is a contender, is at number two Premier League For three consecutive seasons, City are the battle-hardened champions with a winning pedigree.
However, lately it has felt as if the sands are shifting. As the city wobbles and crashes uefa champions leagueArsenal have reached the quarter-finals and have opened up a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
A first trophy for Mikel Arteta in six years would be a solid sign that the balance of power could be shifting towards London. A Wembley win for City would be a statement of authority and cast fresh doubts over Arsenal’s ability to cross the line when silverware is in sight.
So, what does each side think of the other, and what is the mood in the respective camps? ESPN spent time with the Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes and back to the city center ruben dias This week to find out.
Can Arsenal finally take the trophy from City?
Shortly after joining a small group of journalists gathered around a table in the sun-bathed Sobha Realty training center at Arsenal, Gabriel became confused by an accent he did not recognise.
“You’re from Manchester?” he says before adding, “What are you doing here?”
Gabriel smiles, but his interest in safety knows no bounds. TeamMite martin odegaard once suggested brazil If he had not been a footballer he would have been an international security guard.
Fans sing that he’s “back off the wall”, the man whose combative style and social-media notoriety long ago earned him cult-hero status. He is, quite frankly, a guy who loves the physical side of the game and enjoys the rivalry. The battles are too numerous to list in full, but perhaps the most high-profile is with the Manchester City striker erling holland.
The previous season, Haaland had hit Gabriel in the back of the head with the ball, leading to City’s equalizer in stoppage time, before Arsenal won the return match 5–1, during which time Gabriel had screamed in Haaland’s face after the Gunners had scored the opening goal. Haaland showed Gabriel his Premier League champion badge at full-time. Haaland scored again in September’s 1–1 draw at the Emirates Stadium, taking his tally to five goals and two assists in seven matches against the Gunners.
“I enjoy every game, every striker,” says Haaland’s Gabriel. “It’s my job, so I love fighting, but he’s a top player and of course, I think he loves playing against me too. I think it’s fun. We enjoy it.”
“I’m a defender, so I need to bring this energy to my teammates, to my fans. When I’m on the pitch I give it my all. I try to push everybody.” [Sunday] It’s going to be a big fight and I’m ready to do it.”
Is Haaland the toughest striker to play against in the league? “Yes, absolutely,” says Gabriel, who revealed he has watched videos of many legendary defenders including Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro, Lucio. Thiago Silva And marquinhos In an effort to improve.
However, the situation feels different this time against City. Arsenal have not lost to City in their last six matches and the title race has been in their favor for some time now. Set pieces have been a key component to their overall improvement, with Gabriel being the biggest threat. With 20 goals, he is two goals less than Laurent Koscielny in becoming the most decorated defender in Premier League history.
“When we have a corner or a free kick or something like that, I have it in my mind. I want to score, I want to help my team,” says Gabriel. “But everyone talks about ‘Gabby, Gabby, Gabby scores a lot’, but it’s not just Gabby, it’s our team. It’s the way we work together.”
Arsenal now need to prove they can deliver when trophies are on the cards. The only question is: can they see it?
“I think we’ve learned a lot in the past,” says Gabriel. “Of course, we work very hard to win. We want to win every game, but we know that the Premier League is the hardest league to play in. In the last three years we did not get it, but I think this year we will start [well].
“Of course, we try to do our best. I think we’re in a good moment. Just keep doing what we’re doing and see how it ends up.”
If Arsenal win on Sunday, Gabriel will probably celebrate more clearly than most. Although many players stay away from social media, Gabriel embraced it.
Even his satires are in line. after beating Aston Villa In December, he was filmed miming putting three fingers in his pocket amadou onanaThere were celebrations when Villa scored points in their previous meeting. After September’s 4–1 win Tottenham HotspurHe posted a photo of four hearts playing cards on the team bus and tagged his Brazil teammate and Spurs striker richardson.
“I remember, that’s why,” Gabriel says of those celebrations. “I do not write [them down]But that’s why football is beautiful. Because they can do the same things we can do.
“Like Richarlison, he’s my friend. When we lost against them in the preseason, he posted a picture, and now we see it in the Premier League. So it’s in my mind, I don’t forget. But it’s nothing personal.”
Often he is very quick to post after a win. “Against Spurs, it will have to happen quickly,” he said.
This can happen against City also. –James Ollie
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Guardiola praises ‘extraordinary’ Arsenal ahead of Carabao Cup final
Pep Guardiola speaks before the Carabao Cup final between Manchester City and Arsenal.
The guard of the city is changing
Depending on how you look at it, Sunday’s Carabao Cup final is either one of Pep Guardiola’s last chances to win a trophy with Manchester City, or a chance to clinch the first piece of silverware for his new-look team.
Guardiola is coming to the end of his time at the Etihad Stadium. He’s not likely to miss anything right now, but it’s possible he could leave as early as this summer.
He has won everything there is to win there – including the Carabao Cup four times – but many of the players he will lead at the weekend are just starting out. Indeed, victory over Arsenal at Wembley would mean a first winners’ medal for the likes of City Gianluigi Donnarumma, Nico O’Reilly, Ryan Cherky, antony semenyo, Tijani Renders, Omar Marmoush And Abdukodir Khusanov. january signature Mark Guehi Ineligible, but falls into the same group.
The prospect of leading another great team could convince Guardiola to see out the final year of his contract, which expires in June 2027.
Dias, who has been playing for Guardiola since 2020, has seen ups and downs: from winning the Premier League, Champions League, treble and domestic quadruple to last season, when, in Guardiola’s own words, it felt as if City were struggling to win a game, let alone a trophy.
Dias, one of City’s team leaders chosen by Guardiola in the summer, says the new players have helped reset standards, which portugal International signals had slipped in the past year when winning suddenly became more difficult.
“I feel like sometimes, when you’re winning, you fall into certain patterns that are working at the time,” he says. “It goes into day-to-day behaviour, it goes into tactics, it goes everywhere in football, as it does in life, but I think it’s just an update, sometimes to do something different again.
“By doing this you get everyone to commit to it. You put everyone in the same boat, same mindset, same standards and same responsibilities.
“I think now it has taken a much better path and it was needed. Obviously, a lot of things changed after that period [of winning]. We need to set the bar for the new season. There was a need for it and I felt like we did it at the right time.”
If Dias has been crucial in restoring some order to the dressing room, he will be vital at Wembley too.
Arsenal’s ability to score from set pieces means they will be under pressure to deal with anything that comes into City’s penalty area. Arteta’s team’s style of play has been criticized – especially when set against the attacking football produced by Guardiola’s teams – but as a man who puts winning above anything else, Dias says he will never be judged by how others go about his business.
Asked about Arsenal’s style of play, he said, “I would say I don’t care.” “I just want to win and that’s it. Like any other sport, you look at who you’re up against, you look at what you can and can’t do, and within those lines you can do your best.”
When City won the Carabao Cup final in 2018 – against Arsenal – it set the stage for dominance in English football. It was Guardiola’s first trophy at the club, and the first title was achieved a few months later. After that they streamed regularly until last season.
Ahead of another final on Sunday, City stand simultaneously at the end of one era and the beginning of another. Guardiola is looking to squeeze the last few pieces of silverware from an already glittering career, while his new team are aiming to start their own collection. –Rob Dawson
