Gabriel’s debut comes at the perfect time for brazil

Gabriel Magalhães is the most underrated center back in the world. He’s overshadowed by Marquinhos in the Brazilian national team and William Saliba at Arsenal, but every bit the star player that his counterparts for club and country are. He’ll be making his World Cup debut in this summer’s tournament—he just missed out on the Brazil squad in 2022.

At 6’3”, he earned his nickname O Monstro not only with his height but with his imposing, physical play. He loves to battle opposing strikers for strength, probably because he wins almost all of those contests. His duels with Erling Haaland in the Premier League have been filled with that old-school, toughness and venom that harkens back to a previous, far less civil, era of soccer.

Gabriel is one of the most potent set piece threats in the world. Since he joined Arsenal in 2020, no Premier League defender has scored more than his 20 goals, the majority of which have come from headers off corners. He has a surprisingly quick first step, which he uses to break away from his marker as the ball is served into the box. Once he’s created space, he can use his frame, strength, impressive jumping ability and heading power to either find the back of the net himself or put the ball back across the face of goal.

He’s deceptively good with the ball at his feet. Marquinhos will dazzle with his passing range, but Gabriel can also ping that long, diagonal ball to a winger or into space.

Earlier in his career, Gabriel would sometimes get beat and pick up cheap yellow cards from stepping up recklessly, but he’s more or less erased that flaw from his game by better picking his spots. On the rare occasions that he does get caught, he’s learned to trust his own recovery pace and teammates rather than give away the foul and risk the booking.

Gabriel has gotten better at controlling and channeling his emotions on the pitch, too. He plays with his heart on his sleeve. You’ll often see him roar in celebration after a big defensive intervention. But he can still get himself into hot water in flashpoint moments in big games. He was more than a bit lucky to not be sent off against Manchester City for lowering his head towards Haaland after the Norwegian striker got in his face.

If Brazil make a deep run at the World Cup, a historical juggernaut that’s fallen off recently, it’ll be in large part because of Gabriel’s defensive strength, alongside his chipping in with a big goal or two from a set piece. His inclusion arguably reinstalls Brazil as a contender rather than a pretender.

The Seleção were unsettled at fullback and leaked goals in qualifying. Combine those vulnerabilities with a range-limited Casemiro playing in the midfield and much will be asked of Gabriel and Marquinhos at the heart of the Brazilian defense.

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