Gabriel Martinelli will NOT face any punishment for his push on Conor Bradley that triggered a mass brawl. The Brazilian shoved the Liverpooldefender off the pitch and dropped the ball on him after he seemingly picked up a serious injury in the closing stages of Thursday’s evening’s 0-0 draw at the Emirates.
Martinelli has since apologised and according to football.london, the FA will not take any retrospective action. Taking to social media, Martinelli said: “Conor and I have messaged and I have already apologised to him. I really didn’t understand he was seriously injured in the heat of the moment.
“I want to say I’m deeply sorry for reacting. Sending Conor all my best again for a quick recovery.”
Martinelli’s actions were slammed by pundits in the aftermath, with Gary Neville in particular left unhappy. Speaking on commentary, he said: “I am surprised one of the Liverpool players hasn’t gone over and had a right pop at him. I think an apology is needed.
“I’m fuming with Martinelli, I don’t know how a Liverpool player didn’t go and whack him and take the red card. Absolutely disgraceful.”
Roy Keane agreed with Neville’s verdict. He added: “I didn’t like it at all. It happened to me once. I was badly injured and a player stood over me. It’s not good. We know football, the player is a good lad.
“Throwing the ball at him, standing over him and getting a little knee on him. He tries to force him off.
“That behaviour is an absolute disgrace. He’s a good boy to roll over himself. Hopefully, Martinelli will have a look at it and hopefully, he’ll apologise for it. Not good stuff that.”
Martinelli was involved in a controversial incident with Conor Bradley (
Image: Getty Images)
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And while Martinelli has been criticised by some, both Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot have jumped to his defence. The Arsenal boss claimed that had he known the seriousness of Bradley’s injury, he would never have attempted to move him.
He said: “Gabi is an incredible, lovely guy and probably he didn’t realise what happened. I hope that Conor is well. I will have a word with him now to understand that. But probably he didn’t recognise what happened.”