Gary Neville claims Arsenal defender Gabriel was “disrespectful” after laughing in the face of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.
Arsenal opened the scoring inside two minutes on Sunday as captain Martin Odegaard netted his first open play goal in the Premier League this season.
Upon seeing the deadlock broken, Gabriel paused momentarily to taunt Haaland before running up the pitch to join his teammates in celebration.
Whilst many Gunners supporters enjoyed the sight of the Brazilian getting in Haaland’s face following comments from the striker during the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium back in September, Neville was less than impressed.
Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast he said: “I don't like it. I think it's a bit disrespectful. I know Haaland is the pantomime villain here today but there was something about it I didn't like.
“I was many things, and that [winding others up] was my game, but I never did that. I never went and screamed in a player's face. It made me feel a little bit uneasy.”
In addition to Gabriel taunting the Norwegian striker, academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly marked his first senior goal for the club by mimicking Haaland’s trademark celebration after putting Arsenal 3-1 up.
Both incidents appeared direct responses to Haaland’s behaviour in the 2-2 draw earlier this season. The 24-year-old celebrated John Stones’s late equaliser in that game by bouncing the ball off Gabriel’s head, and was then involved in altercations with both Arteta and Lewis-Skelly at the full-time whistle.
Though, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has urged his players to focus on themselves following the 5-1 hammering of Man City.
“There’s nothing I want to discuss about that," he said. "That’s down to the players but they know my view on it and we have to focus on us.
“We have to focus on us and leave anything that happened, it’s part of the game, on the pitch. I have been in football a long time. Whatever happens, just leave it. There’s nothing there to do.”
