Brazil embarrassed without Arsenal stars in Argentina defeat | OneFootball

Brazil suffered badly from the absence of Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes on Tuesday, falling to an embarrassing 4-1 defeat to Argentina.

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Arsenal have quite a few Brazilian players on the books right now, but none of them were involved as Brazil took on Argentina in midweek.

Gabriel Jesus is injured, Gabriel Martinelli is only recently back from an absence, and Neto and Marquinhos were never likely to be called up. But Gabriel Magalhaes had been part of the win over Colombia last week, and he only missed out against Argentina through suspension.

Gabriel picked up his second yellow card of the qualification campaign against Colombia, which means a one-game ban. Newcastle United’s Bruno Guimaraes was absent for the same reason.

As a result, Tuesday was the first time in a year that Brazil didn’t have a single Arsenal player in their squad.

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Without their defensive rock at the back, Brazil capitulated. Gabriel’s replacement Murillo performed so badly that he was substituted at half-time, and Argentina continued to create chances for fun against Leo Ortiz in the second half.

Argentina had four times as many shots as Brazil (12-3), so it was no real surprise they scored four times as many goals (4-1).

The one positive moment for the away side was a poor error from Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero, who dawdled on the ball and gifted Matheus Cunha a goal.

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Argentina have now qualified for the World Cup, with Brazil dropping down to fourth in the standings. With four games remaining, Brazil still have a six-point lead over seventh place, which is the highest position that isn’t guaranteed a World Cup spot.

Even finishing seventh doesn’t necessarily mean missing out, as you can still qualify through the inter-confederation play-offs. Brazil are seven points ahead of eighth, so they should be fine.

But that isn’t going to matter much to many Brazilians on Wednesday morning. Games against Argentina are primarily a matter of pride, and there wasn’t much of that for their side on this occasion.