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Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand has defended Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes for his 'nice kick about with the boys' tweet. The Brazilian posted the tweet following the Gunners' 3-0 win over Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.
Gabriel's post was the latest in a long-running Twitter war between Brentford striker Ivan Toney and the north London outfit. The Englishman posted a tweet mocking the Gunners after his side's 2-0 win over them last year in August.
Alexandre Lacazette then hit back with a similar tweet after the north London side won the reverse fixture later that season. Manager Mikel Arteta had used Toney's tweet to spur on his players ahead of the match.
Now with the Gunners defeating Brentford on Sunday, Gabriel took another dig at Toney. Ferdinand, however, has jumped to the defense of the Brazil international.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said:
"Do you know what? I loved Gabriel’s tweet. I loved that banter. Toney hammered them last season with his tweet, now it’s Arsenal’s turn. It was lovely, I love to see it.
"If I was playing, that’s what I’d be doing all the time. I would be smoking people on Twitter before the game. I’d take the fines, I would."
How Ivan Toney reacted to Arsenal defender Gabriel's tweet
Gabriel's tweet didn't quite go down well with Toney, who recently earned his maiden England call-up. He felt that the joke was funny the first time but now seems like 'cringey'.
He, however, went on to praise the Gunners for their performances in the new season.
"I think once was funny, second time was a bit cringey. I bit my tongue, I wanted to reply and wanted to nibble," he joked (via Daily Mail).
"But fair play to them, they are a different Arsenal side to the one we played before," he added.
