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| Gabriel Jesus appeared to slap Marc Pubill shortly after Arsenal’s semi-final win (Picture: X) |
Atletico Madrid defender Marc Pubill appeared to get slapped in the face by Gabriel Jesus as he aggressively intruded on Arsenal’s celebrations after last night’s Champions League semi-final second leg.
A week on from the sides’ 1-1 draw in Madrid, Bukayo Saka scored the decisive goal to send the Gunners through to this year’s showpiece, where they will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich.
Budapest’s Puskas Arena will stage Arsenal’s second-ever appearance in a Champions League final on May 30, two decades on from the club’s painful defeat to Barcelona when Arsene Wenger was at the helm.
Wild celebrations broke out at the Emirates as referee Daniel Siebert blew his whistle to signal full-time, with Mikel Arteta’s jubilant squad soaking up the occasion with supporters inside the stadium.
But the moment took an unsavoury turn as Atleti right-back Pubill shoved an unsuspecting Viktor Gyokeres from behind, sparking a furious reaction from Cristhian Mosquera and Jesus, who had been arm-in-arm with their Swedish team-mate.
Fan footage shows Mosquera attempting to shepherd Pubill away from Gyokeres, but not before Jesus – an unused substitute on the night -appeared to land a heavy blow on the side of the Spaniard’s face – sending his head spinning backwards.
Myles Lewis-Skelly and Declan Rice were both seen trying to deescalate the situation and Pubill eventually off walked off, before making his way towards the away dressing room in north London.
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| Saka scored the decisive goal in north London (Picture: Getty) |
It was initially unclear what had triggered Pubill to approach Gyokeres at full-time and neither manager was asked about the incident when facing the media in the immediate aftermath.
However, a separate clip doing the rounds on social media shows Gyokeres goading Pubill just moments earlier, screaming in the full-back’s direction on the halfway line.
Gyokeres gave Atleti’s defenders a torrid time for much of the clash, doing the dirty work and proving a handful in what is arguably his finest and most important performance yet for the Gunners.
‘He was immense,’ Arteta said of Gyokeres’ display when talking to Amazon Prime shortly after the final whistle.
‘You can see the reaction from the crowd every time he had the ball, his work-rate and what he’s giving the team is just incredible.’
A beaming Arteta said he had never before felt such a ‘special’ and ‘unique’ energy inside the Emirates during his reign as head coach.
‘It’s an incredible night. We made history again together. I cannot be happier and prouder of everyone involved in this football club,’ he added.
‘The manner that we got to see outside the stadium was special and unique.
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| Arsenal’s players soaked up the moment with fans in the Emirates crowd (Picture: Getty) |
‘The atmosphere that our supporters created, the energy, the way they lived every ball with us, it made it special and unique. I never felt that in the stadium.
‘We knew how much it meant to everybody. We put everything in, the boys did an incredible job.
- Tom Olver
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