BREAKING: Arsenal star withdraws from national team duty after picking up injury
Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes has withdrawn from the Brazil squad for the upcoming international break due to an injury.
The Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) provided the update via an official statement on their website on Monday, March 18. The statement notably did not mention the nature of Gabriel's injury, but included a statement from Selecao head coach Dorival Junior that read:
"I had already communicated previously that we work with a slightly more extensive list. A pre-call, we can put it that way, and again, today, we had another casualty. Unfortunately, Gabriel Magalhães is uncalled."
Gabriel will thus not get to add to his six caps for Brazil - the last of which was a 1-0 FIFA World Cup qualifier defeat to Argentina in November - during this break. Dorival also announced that the center-back has been replaced by Juventus defender Gleison Bremer.
Brazil will play friendlies against England at Wembley on March 23 and Spain at the Santiago Bernabeu three days later during this break.
Gabriel has played a key role for Arsenal this season
Gabriel Magalhaes has been one of Arsenal's best players this season, helping them maintain the best defensive record in the Premier League (24 goals conceded).
He has played in 26 of their 28 league games, and helped them keep eight clean sheets, averaging 1.3 tackles, 2.4 clearances, 3.8 recoveries and 4.7 duels won per match. The Brazilian has also completed 89% of his passes and chipped in with four goals.
Mikel Arteta's men currently sit atop the table with 64 points, leading Liverpool on goal difference and Manchester City by a point.
Gabriel has also started and completed all eight of Arsenal's UEFA Champions League matches this term. His tackling and successful duel numbers drop to 0.9 and 3.3 respectively in the competition, but his clearances (4.0) and recoveries (4.8) have gone up.
Gabriel notably played all 120 minutes of his side's last game before the break against Porto in the second leg of their Champions League Round-of-16 encounter. The tie ended 1-1 on aggregate after a 1-0 Gunners victory on the night, with Arsenal winning 4-2 on penalties to enter the quarterfinals.
They will take on Bayern Munich in the last eight.