Dominik Szoboszlai was not happy with Gabriel Martinelli after the Brazilian shoved Conor Bradley off the pitch after the Liverpool defender suffered a serious-looking injury
22:59, 08 Jan 2026
Gabriel Martinelli sparked a melee between Liverpool and Arsenal
Gabriel Martinelli sparked a melee between Liverpool and Arsenal(Image: 2026 Marc Atkins)
Dominik Szoboszlai said that the health of the players is paramount after an unsavory incident involving Gabriel Martinelli and Conor Bradley in the closing stages of Liverpool's draw against Arsenal.
Bradley appeared to jar his knee during stoppage time and went down in a lot of pain by the side of the pitch, but as he awaited treatment from Liverpool's medical staff, Arsenal forward Martinelli shoved him off the pitch.
Martinelli's shove sparked a melee, as Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ibrahima Konate confronted the Brazilian, who was cautioned after the incident.
Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville was disgusted with the Arsenal forward's actions, saying: "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."
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Neville called on Martinelli to issue an apology to Bradley, which Roy Keane agreed with. Keane said: “Well, someone stood over me once when I had a serious injury. I didn’t like it at all. First of all, throwing the ball on him. If you look, he’s got a little knee in there as well, it’s not good. That behaviour is an absolute disgrace."
The incident was mentioned to Szoboszlai in his post-game interview with Sky Sports, and the Hungary international gave a diplomatic response – while at the same time making it clear that he disagreed with Martinelli''s actions.
"I saw that Conor twisted his knee," Szoboszlai said. "I don't know what happened with him, obviously he didn't want to come back to the pitch for time-wasting, he was just in so much pain he couldn't even think where he rolled and Gabriel come there and push him off the pitch.
Martinelli has been slammed for shoving Bradley
Martinelli has been slammed for shoving Bradley(Image: 2026 Marc Atkins)
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"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."
The incident was also put to Mikel Arteta in his post-game interview, and the Arsenal manager defended his player, suggesting that Martinelli didn't know just how badly hurt Bradley might have been.
"Probably he doesn't know because knowing Gabi, there is zero intention," Arteta said. "I don't know what happened to Conor, but hopefully it's not bad, but obviously, there is no intention from Gabi to do anything bad to him."