Arsenal star Gabriel fights off baseball bat-wielding robber

Premier League star Gabriel fought off a baseball bat-wielding man attempting to steal his car.

The Arsenal defender was followed into his home in Barnet, north London, by three men on 20 August who demanded he hand over his car keys.

Footage of the incident shows Gabriel struggling with a baseball bat-wielding man, later identified as Abdi Muse.

Muse, 26, was sentenced to five years in jail for robbery at Harrow Crown Court on 17 November.

After a struggle, the men fled with Gabriel's keys but left the car behind in the garage.

Arsenal said they had been supporting Gabriel since the incident

Mr Muse, of no fixed address, was later arrested and admitted robbery and possession of an offensive weapon.

Reacting to the incident, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said you have to "give credit" to the Brazilian defender.

"It's not a nice thing to go through, when you have family involved and they're trying to access your house," he said.

"Gabby showed a lot of character, you see the reaction that he had straight away. Credit to the boy. After that he was fine.

"He was shocked and obviously he wanted to change a few things in his life to make sure that didn't happen again."

Arteta added that Arsenal supported Gabriel in the wake of the robbery.

"The club gave him all the support that was needed to try and help him forget about the situation, learn about it and move on", he said.

Arsenal bought 23-year-old Gabriel from Lille for £27m last year.

At the time of the robbery, he had been sidelined with a knee injury. However, he has since made 10 appearances for the Premier League side.

It was not the first time that an Arsenal star has had to face off against robbers.

Two armed men attempted to rob expensive watches from defender Sead Kolasinac, 28, and midfielder Mesut Ozil, 33, in Hampstead, north-west London, in 2019.

However, Kolasinac fought back and was able to jump into a car driven by Ozil.