The Brazil national team suffered their earliest World Cup exit in decades, falling 2-1 to Erling Haaland and Norway as their squad of mostly below average and/or finished players was completely outplayed and outcoached by a hungry Norway side.
While Vinicius Junior's heroics were wasted and the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Casemiro, and Marquinhos embarrassed themselves on the international stage, no player came out of that defeat with a more shattered reputation than Arsenal center back Gabriel Magalhaes.
Tottenham Hotspur supporters will take full delight in Gabriel's fall from grace, of course. Though he is a Premier League champion, much of Arsenal's success came during the worst ever Premier League season in which they took advantage of the exact sort of time wasting, set piece hacks, diving, and cheap fouls that, ironically enough, former manager Arsene Wenger and FIFA have mercifully cut out at this year's World Cup tournament.
Tottenham won't feel for Gabriel at all
Without those Dark Arts, Gabriel had to face his nemesis from Manchester City Haaland, and he got absolutely bodied by the superior player and sportsman. The humble Haaland humiliated Gabriel on the first goal, outsmarting the Arsenal center back before sending him feebly tumbling to the turf. And then on the second goal, a brilliant strike from beyond the pale, Haaland put it through the legs of Danilo, with Gabriel standing away from him like a coward instead of stepping up to the star striker.
All game long, Haaland made Gabriel look like a scared, all bark and no bite center back, but that is exactly the kind of player Tottenham Hotspur supporters and literally everyone else in the Premier League had him tabbed for throughout the season.
Without William Saliba to bail him out and only the beyond finished Marquinhos flailing around him, Gabriel Magalhaes was forced to step up, and he predictably failed to do so. Make no mistake, Gabriel is a good center beck, but he is far from world class, and anyone considering him a Premier League Player of the Season player is vastly overrating him.
No, a Premier League Player of the Season level player is Erling Haaland, and the Manchester City striker did indeed show his Arsenal counterpart levels at the World Cup. Between this shocking display in the Round of 16 and his penalty miss against PSG in the Champions League Final, Gabriel is reeling, and Tottenham fans won't feel bad at all after all of his cheap shenanigans during the 2025/26 Premier League season.
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