At a Glance:
- Alan Shearer believes Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes deserved to get a red card against Manchester City.
- Gary Lineker also claimed the Arsenal defender should have been red carded.
- Shearer believes he knows why Gabriel might not have been sent off.
Alan Shearer was quizzed about whether he reckoned that Gabriel Magalhaes deserved to be shown a red card after pushing his head into Erling Haaland’s during Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City.
Haaland felt Gabriel was lucky not to be sent off due to the star striker’s decision not to throw himself to the ground in the aftermath of the Brazilian’s antics.
Ultimately, Mikel Arteta will be frustrated witnessing one of his go-to leaders lose composure in the biggest game of Arsenal’s season so far.
With the former Lille centre-back also caught at the back for both of Rayan Cherki and Haaland’s goals, it’s safe to say that he had a torrid time at the Etihad Stadium.
- READ MORE: Mikel Arteta must really regret his 74th minute decision vs Man City that may have cost Arsenal
Alan Shearer believes VAR didn’t want to give Gabriel a red card vs Man City
Haaland questioned Gabriel’s aggressiveness as he admitted to being confused about why the defender went head-to-head with him in the first place.
It seemed like the Gunners colossus was frustrated witnessing the Norwegian and his City side upstage Mikel Arteta and Co once again and struggled to keep a lid on his emotions.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Alan Shearer initially said: “I said last week about the sending off from [Lisandro] Martinez, Man United and I said the game has to be very, very careful about what it wants and what it’s accepted in terms of VAR. The VAR sent the referee to the screen last week in the Man United game for the tiniest tug of the hair and he’s sent off for violent conduct, Martinez.”
Shearer believed Gabriel unequivocally deserved to be red carded but felt the officials did not want to send him off in such a monumental clash.
“Yet, you look at Gabriel, the way he shoved his head into Haaland’s head? How on Earth is that not a red card, seriously? What the hell is going on in our game with VAR? My take on it is that they probably said, ‘We don’t want to get involved in the title race and be seen to be sending someone off.’ And I think Haaland has done Gabriel a right favour by not going to the ground, there’s so many other players who would’ve went to the ground when he stuck his head into his. Clear red card it should’ve been.”
Gary Lineker says Erling Haaland ‘saved’ Gabriel from a red card in Man City vs Arsenal
Ultimately, the Premier League Match Centre explained the decision, which stated: “The referee’s call of no red card was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action from Gabriel deemed not to be excessively aggressive or violent.”
#MCIARS – 83'
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) April 19, 2026
The referee’s call of no red card was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action from Gabriel deemed not to be excessively aggressive or violent.
Gary Lineker agreed with Alan Shearer as he felt Gabriel was lucky not to be sent off against Manchester City,
“I agree, it’s a red card. The problem is with it, I think is that Haaland stayed on his feet and saved him from a red card.”
Lineker concluded: “What that does is it encourages players in similar circumstances to throw themselves on the floor because he would’ve got a red card under those circumstances.”
