Martinelli evades punishment for 'absolutely disgraceful' actions towards injured Conor Bradley

Martin Macdonald

• 9 Jan 2026 08:45 CST
• 4 min read

Nieuws

Gabriel Martinelli will receive no retrospective punishment for his actions in an incident with Conor Bradley during Arsenal's 0-0 draw against Liverpool on Thursday.

In the final minutes of the match, the pair were battling down the left wing when the Liverpool defender landed awkwardly and fell down clutching his leg. Martinelli, believing his opponent was wasting time, attempted to shove him off the pitch while on the deck, while subsequent replays showed that he dropped the ball on Bradley, too.

A melee broke out among both teams and several players were booked, with Bradley being stretchered off not long after.

Gary Neville was scathing in his assessment of the situation.

"Oh you can't push him off the pitch. You cannot do that, you idiot. That's so poor," he said on Sky Sports' coverage.

"I'm surprised the Liverpool players haven't gone over and had a right pop at him. I think an apology is needed. He's thrown the ball at him as well. Yeah, it's no good. Gonna be stretchered off Conor Bradley, and it's a sad sight. He's someone who has had injuries. I'm actually fuming with Martinelli.

"Honestly, I don't know how the Liverpool players didn't go over there and whack him, to be honest with you and take a red card. Absolutely disgraceful, that."

"I hope Martinelli has gone into the dressing room and apologised"

Gary Neville hopes Gabriel Martinelli will have apologised to Connor Bradley. pic.twitter.com/ZDPQKXAij0

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 8, 2026

Martinelli did receive some support from a surprising source as Liverpool manager Arne Slot reckons the Brazilian was simply annoyed at the thought of time-wasting.

"I think the problem for him - and it's a problem in general in football - is that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending that they are injured in the final parts of the game and during the game, that you can sometimes be annoyed if you want to try to score a goal that you think the player is time-wasting," Slot said after the match.

"You cannot ask Martinelli to think so clear in the 94th minute. I am 100% sure that if he knew what the injury might be, then he would never do that. But it doesn't look great if he [Bradley] has the injury which we fear he might have.

"But time-wasting, diving... I have seen it happen against us so many times this season that I can understand that Martinelli might have thought that this is time-wasting as well. He couldn't have thought about 'this is Liverpool, they don't do this'."

Martinelli apologises to Bradley

Martinelli has now revealed that he apologised to Bradley for the incident.

He posted on Instagram:

"Conor and I have messaged and I’ve 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 will not receive any further punishment as the incident was saw by the referee and VAR at the time and the player received a booking.

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