Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes Gabriel Martinelli did not intend anything bad to happen to injured Liverpool right-back Conor Bradley.
The Spanish tactician spoke to Sky Sports after the match between Arsenal and Liverpool, which ended 0-0 at the Emirates Stadium and ended with some kind of altercation between players from both groups.
Martinelli was widely criticized for trying to push Bradley off the pitch when he suffered a serious injury, with the Reds defender ultimately having to be carried off on a stretcher.
The Brazil international looked genuinely mad, feeling that Bradley was wasting his time, even though he clearly had bad problems that prevented him from continuing.
Mikel Arteta talks about Gabriel Martinelli and Conor Bradley incident
Arteta insists Martinelli must have been unaware of the severity of his injury as he cannot imagine Martinelli intending to cause further harm to his fellow professional.
“He probably doesn’t know,” Arteta said. “Because, knowing Gabi, I don’t mean anything. I don’t know what happened to Connor, but I hope it’s not bad.
“But clearly Gabi has no intention of doing anything bad to him.”
Expert criticizes Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli
Also commenting on Sky’s coverage of the match, pundits Daniel Sturridge and Roy Keane said they were completely unimpressed by Martinelli’s actions.
Sturridge described it as “worse than rude”, but Keene thought it was clear that feigning injury was not something Bradley would do…
Martinelli is a key player for Arsenal and has the potential to be a remarkable talent in his game, but this was an ugly incident for him and will need to be forgotten.
No one wants to see this kind of antics on the pitch and it’s a shame that this was the only truly noteworthy incident in what was a fairly bland game at the Emirates.
