Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli scored his maiden goal for Brazil during their World Cup qualifier defeat to Colombia on Thursday night.

Martinelli was in terrific form for the Gunners before the international break. He won 10 duels and nine take-ons against Sevilla in the Champions League group stage.

Martinelli celebrates after his strike vs Colombia

Martinelli poked in his first ever Brazil goal

There were no surprises that he was recalled to the national set-up. Martinelli made his second start for his country last night and scored after just four minutes into the game.

However, his debut goal for the Selecao was not sufficient to deliver the win. Luis Diaz made the difference for Colombia in the World Cup qualifier with two late goals.

Despite the result, Martinelli should be hugely proud after netting his first-ever senior goal for Brazil.

Aside from his strike, Martinelli completed 32 out of his 35 passes with an accuracy of 92%. He won six ground and aerial duels and drew five fouls from the opposition.

He was undoubtedly one of the stand-out performers and should be backed to keep his spot when Brazil welcome fierce rivals Argentina to the Maracana Stadium next week.

Martinelli’s goal opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the game.

The winger picked the ball up on the left wing, his usual position for Arsenal, before exchanging a brilliant one-two with Vinicius Jr before finishing as he fell to the ground.

With Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah both being sidelined recently, Arsenal fans have been keen to see Martinelli deployed down the middle.

In response to Martinelli’s goal on Twitter, one fan said: “Mikel needs to play him down the middle already.”

Another wrote to agree with the poster, saying: “Trossard left wing and Martinelli centre forward.”

But not all fans agreed with the suggestion with one replying: “This goal didn’t come from him staying at the middle It started from left wing.”

Another wrote: “He didn’t play down the middle he was on the left.”

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Martinelli’s position has always been somewhat of a debate.

The youngster, 22, initially played as a striker when he was being blooded into the team in 2019.

But Arteta has always favoured playing Martinelli as a left winger as it allows him to make use of both his dribbling and ability to finish when cutting inside.

Arsenal teammate Gabriel Magalhaes also played 82 minutes against Colombia, but he had an outing to forget as he was substituted shortly after Diaz’s brace for the hosts.

Both players are likely to start versus the reigning world champions next week. Arsenal will be hoping that the duo will return to the club later in the week in the perfect condition.

After the break, the Gunners have a favorable Premier League schedule that includes matches against Brentford, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Luton Town.

If Manchester City draws or loses to Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium, they will have a chance to move up to the top of the standings with a victory over the Bees.