Arsenal centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes baited Brentford with a viral tweet after the Gunners’ 3-0 win over the Bees in the Premier League on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta’s side returned to the top of the table after an aggregate victory in west London, which was won thanks to goals from William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira.
After the game, Gabriel took to Twitter and wrote, “Good kicking with the boys.”
This tweet quickly went viral as it was identical to one posted last season by Brentford’s Ivan Toney following the Bees’ 2-0 win over Arsenal at the start of the season.
At the time, Arsenal were suffering from a Covid-19 outbreak and were trying to get the game postponed.
Forwards Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette were forced out of the game at the last minute and a frustrated Arteta had to pick a young squad as the game went against the club’s wishes.
The Gunners then lost 2-0 to the newly-promoted side and Toney posted: “Good kick with the boys.”
This tweet infuriated Arteta and he later used it as motivation for his players ahead of the second leg against Brentford at the Emirates Stadium.
Amazon’s All or Nothing documentary captured the moment when, pointing to the tweet, Arteta shouted to his players: “Before I go, because it’s still in my stomach and I managed to keep it for four months , five months, six months.
“It’s Toney after the game when we played Brentford. You know what he did? You know his tweet? Nice kick with the boys.
“So today they’re playing in our house, guys, there’s only one team on this fucking pitch – and that’s us! One team, it’s like they’re not playing not in soccer.
“We take this fucking ball, we take the game, we go and win this game!”
Arsenal won the match 2-1, thanks to goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.
After the game, Lacazette tweeted, “Good kick with the boys.”
And perhaps to put salt in the wounds this time, Arteta made his Premier League debut to a real boy in the knockout stages on Sunday as 15-year-old Ethan Nwaneri made his debut and became the youngster in Premier League history. when he replaced Vieira in the 90th minute.
