Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli was involved in a controversial incident late in his side’s draw with Liverpool after Conor Bradley was injured and Roy Keane was far from happy with the Brazilian
Roy Keane slammed Gabriel Martinelli as a ‘disgrace’ for trying to shove Conor Bradley off the pitch when potentially seriously injured. The Liverpool star appeared to pick up a serious injury late in his side’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.
Bradley went down when attempting to clear the ball and immediately clutched his leg. But the seriousness of the injury did not dawn on Martinelli, who dropped the ball on the stricken defender.
He then attempted to push Bradley off of the pitch, sparking a brawl that saw him and Ibrahima Konate booked, while Bradley was eventually stretchered off in agony. Manchester United icon Keane was left furious with Martinelli’s actions.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “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.
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“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.”
Fellow pundit Daniel Sturridge agreed with Keane after seeing the incident. He said: “It’s disappointing to see.
“There’s passion and there’s being a winner, there’s wanting to help your team-mates, but you’ve got to be respectful as a footballer.
“Injuries are never a nice feeling. Martinelli is thinking time wasting but you’ve got to be self aware enough to see the guy is down. You’ve been there before. It’s disrespectful. It’s probably worse than disrespectful.”
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Keane then added: “You can tell he’s injured. I don’t think he’s the type of player. You’re trying to push him off the pitch? It’s not good that.”
Keane and Sturridge were far from the only ones to be left unhappy by the incident. Gary Neville also shared his verdict and claimed that he would have been happy to have been sent off to defend Bradley.
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.”
Arsenal are back in action this weekend as they take on Championship side Portsmouth in the FA Cup. Liverpool welcome Barnsley to Anfield on Monday.
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