Gabriel has been called up by Brazil for a special South American Interlull which will start at the end of this month.
Having fallen behind in their World Cup qualification schedule due to Covid-19 related issues – the first four rounds of qualifiers in March and September 2020 were suspended and two planned rounds of matches in March 2021 were postponed due to issues with European players being able to travel – CONMEBOL are now trying to wrap things up on time by squeezing in an unplanned week of matches.
📋 CONVOCAÇÃO DA SELEÇÃO 🇧🇷
Laterais:
Éder Militão – @RealMadrid
Gabriel Magalhães – @Arsenal
Marquinhos – @PSG_inside
Thiago Silva – @ChelseaFC#Eliminatórias pic.twitter.com/GPDNapzkbn— CBF Futebol (@CBF_Futebol) January 13, 2022
Brazil face a trip to Ecuador on 27 January before hosting Paraguay on 2 February. They and the rest of the South American sides will then complete their fixtures in late March.
As things stand Arsenal don’t play between 23 January (Burnley) and 10 February (Wolves), however, with a backlog of fixtures – Chelsea (A), Wolves (H), Liverpool (A) – you’d be forgiven for looking at that 17 day period as a prime opportunity to tick at least one off the list. We’re not entirely sure if that would be allowed, we suspect not.
Gabriel will no doubt be relishing the chance to make his debut for his country. The Arsenal centre-back was called-up in November but watched from the sidelines as the Seleção sneaked past Colombia and drew with Argentina to secure their place at Qatar 2022.
He seems to be timing his ascent to the top of Brazilian football nicely having missed out on the Olympics through injury.
That is esteemed company Gabriel’s keeping. Also did anyone else’s eyesight suddenly improve halfway through that last sentence?
Class player, not surprised Brazil want him.
Fine so long as he comes back safe and sound.
Parabens Gabriel!
Looks at home in that Brazil national team shirt, doesn’t he? Best left footed Brazilian center back in the world, hopefully for the next decade.
Brazil have qualified. So, it remains a big honour to be capped, but these are meaningless fixtures for Brazil.
Youd think theyd take the chance to have a look at Martanelli but good that we keep him back at London Colney
Delighted for him.
Also, Brazil have a half decent group of CBs to call on don’t they? Good range of ages/experience as well.
Yeah just had the same tought, fierce competition ahead!
Gabriel is world class. Of all our players I fear he is the one who the oligarcs will take from us. He needs a bumper new deal.
Arthur Melo hasn’t been called up into the Brazil squad – so if he signed for us – at least that’s two solid weeks on the training ground. 24 January to 2 February is a FIFA international calendar window so we won’t have a fixture rearranged between those dates. We would be missing the 4 Africans, Gabriel, and Tomiyasu as Japan have two fixtures. Technically we could play the weekend of the FA Cup fourth round – 5/6 Feb – but against who – obviously Chelsea and Wolves are still in the cup. It’s gonna be 18 days without a… Read more »