Conor Bradley suffered a freak injury late into Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal on Thursday evening, with the scenes turning rather ugly in the aftermath as he was shoved by Gabriel Martinelli
Gary Neville has dubbed Gabriel Martinelli’s conduct as “disgraceful” as he shoved an in-pain Conor Bradley off the pitch as he lay waiting for treatment. The Liverpool full-back was running to clear a loose ball on the right-hand side of the pitch, when he went to ground writhing in pain, slapping the turf in discomfort.
It then appeared as though Martinelli dropped the ball on the Northern Irishman at the touchline, before Dominik Szoboszlai rushed over to check on his team-mate. The Arsenal winger was then spotted shoving Bradley off the pitch, sparking a fiery reaction from surrounding Liverpool players nearby.
Both Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister were quick to confront the Brazilian for his actions, while Neville – on Sky Sports co-commentary – called Martinelli’s behaviour “disgraceful,” in a furious rant. He said: “It didn’t look good. Something’s gone – just before he kicked it, it went.
“Oh you can’t push him off the pitch. You cannot do that, you idiot. That’s so poor. I’m surprised the Liverpool players haven’t gone over and had a right pop at him. I think an apology is needed.”
He added: “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.
“He’s got those hands over his face and I’m actually fuming with Martinelli, honest. I don’t know how Liverpool players didn’t go over and whack him to be honest with you, and take a red card. Absolutely disgraceful that.”
Martinelli was ultimately booked for his actions, while Ibrahima Konate also saw a yellow card for his confrontation in the aftermath. Liverpool denied Arsenal a key chance to expand their lead over Manchester City to eight points at the top of the Premier League standings after holding the Gunners to a draw at the Emirates Stadium.
It was a bright start for the hosts, who pitted unrelenting pressure on Liverpool from the outset. However, the Reds ultimately had the best chance of the first-half, Bradley rattling the crossbar with a cute chip over a floundering David Raya.
However, without Alexander Isak or Hugo Ekitike, Szoboszlai was Liverpool’s main outlet – presenting five shots for the team in the second-half alone and collecting the Player of the Match award from the fixture. When asked about the Bradley situation by Sky Sports, he explained: “I see that Conor twisted his knee, I don’t know what’s going on with him.
“And obviously he didn’t want to come back to the pitch to make it time wasting or something, he just had so much pain that he couldn’t think where he rolled. And then you come there to push him off the pitch…I understand you want to win, we want to win as well but I think the health of a player is much more important than something else.”
Meanwhile, Roy Keane also gave his take on the incident while wrapping up Sky’s coverage of the match. He said: “I didn’t like it at all. Happened to me once before, when I was badly injured and a player stood over me.
“Yeah, it’s not good. We know football, we know players’ reactions, we know he’s a good lad. First of all, throwing the ball on him, standing over him. He’s got a little knee in here, if you watch it closely, he’s trying to force him off.
“And I’m surprised the Liverpool players didn’t go after Martinelli a bit more. I think Martinelli, that behaviour, is absolutely disgrace. He’s a good boy to roll around himself. Not good scenes, hopefully he’ll look at it and hopefully apologise for it.”
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