Three immediate replacements for Gabriel Magalhaes as Arsenal star forced off with injury against Fulham ahead of Real Madrid

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Gabriel Magalhaes limped off during Arsenal’s game against Fulham at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Brazilian appeared to injure his hamstring when keeping pace with a counter-attack from the Cottagers, and had to be replaced by Jakub Kiwior.

The injury to Gabriel comes a week before Arsenal’s first leg against Real Madrid in N5, and it looks unlikely that the imperious central defender will be available for the clash.

What that said, here are three potential replacements Mikel Arteta should consider using against the Spanish giants.

• READ MORE: Mikel Arteta gives Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber injury update amid Arsenal vs Real Madrid fear

Jakub Kiwior

The obvious like-for-like replacement is Kiwior, with the Pole introduced in place of Gabriel against Fulham.

Naturally suited to playing as a left-centre-back, the passing angles work for him on that side.

However, Arteta will no doubt have concerns about his lack of pace and ability to deal with the likes of Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe.

This may ultimately deter the Arsenal boss from opting for Kiwior against Los Blancos.

Ben White

Ben White missed Arsenal’s game against Fulham, but the versatile defender isn’t expected to be out for a prolonged period of time.

While the Englishman only returned from a serious injury himself in mid-February, he’d still be the favourite to replacement Gabriel if fit.

Comfortable as a centre-back, White playing in this role would likely mean William Saliba shifts across to the left, where he is deployed for France.

Having said this, if White doesn’t feature in any capacity against Everton on the weekend, then it’d be some risk to throw him in against Real Madrid.

Riccardo Calafiori

While Riccardo Calafiori has spent the majority of his Arsenal minutes at left-back, the Italian plays for his country as a left-centre-back in a three and played centrally for Bologna.

He’d certainly be capable of slotting into this role and would be the more preferable option to Kiwior.

However, the issue is that Calafiori is recovering from his own injury, and may not be fit to play against Real Madrid.

The youngster sustained a fitness setback on international duty, with the diagnosis being that he’d be out ‘for weeks’.

That gives him a chance of playing in the quarter-final, albeit a slim one.