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Pablo Marí’s football career couldn’t be more like a roller coaster. The one from Almussafes has had to face a series of ups and downs that would sap anyone’s morale. But it can be properly said that he is back after his appearance in the London derby that faced Arsenal and Chelsea last weekend, with a victory for the Gunners.
The Almussafense Pablo Marí has gone from chaining transfers in modest Spanish football teams, in what seemed like a career that was moving further and further away from the elite, to making history in Brazil and ending up signing for one of the great historic players of English football ( and European) such as Arsenal. His signing for Flamengo was one of those movements that some would qualify as a step backwards but that served for the riverside defender to achieve continuity in his game and titles: the Brazilian league and the Copa Libertadores.
When it seemed that it had peaked, Arsenal arrived and joined its ranks during the last winter market. After a period of adaptation, Mikel Arteta began to give him minutes before the great defensive deficits suffered by the London team. But everything went wrong, of course, with the arrival of the pandemic and the suspension of sports competitions, which weighed down a good part of what could have been the best year, at a sports level, for the left-handed central defender.
Previous step through the subsidiary
After the quarantine period, the Premier League returned and with it Pablo Marí. He was not going to have it easy at all in the return to the competition, since on June 17 he faced the Manchester City of Pep Guardiola. The one from Almussafes started as a starter but only lasted 24 minutes on the pitch. An ankle injury kept him out of the game and has kept him away from the pitch for almost half a year. In fact, he could not take part in the conquest of the two titles that the “Gunners” achieved last summer: the FA Cup and the Community Shield.
With patience, effort and work, Marí recovered. At the end of November he participated again in an official match, although he did so in Arsenal’s second team, with which he played up to two games before returning to play in the Premier League. Arteta also gave him the opportunity in continental competition. On his return to the first team on December 3, he scored one of four North London goals against Rapid Vienna. A week later he appeared again in the Spanish coach’s starting lineup and the “Gunners” completed a plenary session: six victories in six games in the group stage of the Europa League.
However, the good European results had nothing to do with the image offered in the domestic competition. Arsenal have had poor results since their narrow win over Manchester United on 1 November. A disastrous streak with which to reach the derby against Chelsea, in which Marí returned to the Premier League. But soccer is not an exact science. Although those of Frank Lampard arrived better positioned in the table, they succumbed to those of Arteta. A triumph on which the Almussafes man can cement his career in the elite. If the pandemic and the injuries let him display his qualities, of course.
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