Arsenal‘s Gabriel Martinelli has said that scoring from the bench for the second time in five days with Sunday’s stoppage-time lob is “why I sacrifice so much.”
Martinelli’s last-gasp equaliser salvaged a 1-1 draw for Arsenal against Manchester City in Premier League action on Sunday and Martinelli said that he works so hard in training to come through for his team in the clutch.
“Certainly [it’s a good feeling to score the goal],” Martinelli told ESPN Brasil. “[I]t’s for these moments that I work so hard, that I sacrifice so much during the week in training, in everything in my life, to live these moments.
“Only God, my family, and my wife know how much I have been working and dedicating myself to get back to my best. I know I still have a lot to improve. I am very happy with the goal in the Champions League, the goal against City as well, it’s very important. I am very happy. As I said, these are the moment that I work for.”
City seemed headed to victory over Mikel Arteta’s players after Erling Haaland struck in the ninth minute at the Emirates before delivering an impressive rear-guard performance.
– Arteta: City ‘without a doubt’ in PL title race
– Arteta: Arsenal learnt from Lewis-Skelly mock cele
However, Martinelli came off the bench to cancel out Haaland’s strike when he latched on to Eberechi Eze‘s long ball over the top before catching City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma off his line in the third minute of added time.
“Yeah, we had an experience against him [Donnarumma] in the Champions League last season,” Martinelli said. “He ended up making a great save here in the game against us on one of my shots. But today I came out on top. As I said, happy for the goal, but we would have liked to come away with the victory.”
Earlier this week, Martinelli scored just 36 seconds after coming on as a substitute to fire Arsenal to an impressive 2-0 win over Athletic Club in their Champions League opener in Bilbao.
The draw leaves Arsenal five points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, who have won all five of their games so far, with Pep Guardiola’s men eight points off the pace.
