Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes took to Twitter to take a dig at Brentford striker Ivan Toney after the Gunners beat the Bees 3-0 last weekend. The Brazilian centre-back tweeted 'nice kick about with the boys', the exact words Toney tweeted when Brentford won the same fixture 13 months earlier.
Alexandre Lacazette posted the same when Arsenal beat Brentford at the Emirates Stadium in February. Toney, who had been called-up to the England squad for the first time just days before the heavy defeat to Arsenal, was quizzed on what me made of the tweet.
He said: “I think once was funny, second time was a bit cringey but I bit my tongue.
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“I wanted to reply, I wanted to nibble but fair play to them."
Gabriel received some criticism for his post that poked fun at Toney and Brentford, with talkSPORT's Andy Goldstein labelling the tweet 'embarrassing'. Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Darren Bent wasn't too critical, but he did say Gabriel's response to Toney was 'over the top'.
“Putting them back in their box, that’s what Arsenal are doing,” Bent told talkSPORT.
“Brentford have been fantastic since they’ve been back in the Premier League and you know what it’s like, it’s like David vs Goliath and Brentford won the first one.
“It’s a little bit over the top, you have to say."
Ex-Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler has been confused by the backlash Gabriel has received for the tweet. Fowler says the post highlighted Gabriel's personality and sense of humour in a world where footballers are often criticised for being boring, cliched and out of touch with the real world.
“It was a nice riposte," Fowler told the Sunday Mirror.
"Gentle. Not disrespectful. A reminder that footballers do care and don’t forget even the smallest of slights.
“And also that they do have a sense of humour. So I was a bit disappointed to hear some pundits suggest that Gabriel was setting himself up for a fall of his own and should have known better.
“How often do we hear these same people suggest that modern players are boring, that they’re too precious about themselves and out of touch with the man or woman in the street?”
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