Gabriel Martinelli has sent a message to Conor Bradley after the Arsenal winger was branded "disgraceful" for pushing the injured Liverpool defender off the pitch
06:38, 09 Jan 2026
Gabriel Martinelli
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Gabriel Martinelli has come under fire for attempting to push an injured Conor Bradley off the pitch(Image: Getty Images)
Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli says he is "deeply sorry" for shoving Conor Bradley and revealed he has "already apologised" to the injured Liverpool star.
With Bradley lying on the floor after appearing to suffer a serious knee injury during Thursday's 0-0 draw, Martinelli threw the ball in his direction and pushed him off the pitch.
Bradley left the Emirates Stadium on crutches and wearing a supportive brace on his left knee. Martinelli, meanwhile, was shown a yellow card for the incident, which provoked anger from the Liverpool players with Ibrahima Konate getting booked for his part in showing his displeasure.
Gary Neville criticised Martinelli, branding the Brazilian "disgraceful", and adding: "I'm fuming with Martinelli. I don't know how Liverpool players didn't go over to absolutely whack him to be honest with you."
Neville's former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane added: "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.
"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."
Now, a matter of hours after the game, Martinelli then took to Instagram to apologise to Bradley, admitting he didn't know the stricken Liverpool defender was seriously injured.
Martinelli said: "Conor and I have messaged and I have 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."
Gabriel Martinelli was furious after Conor Bradley went down injured.
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Gabriel Martinelli was furious after Conor Bradley went down injured.(Image: 2026 Marc Atkins)
Prior to Martinelli's social media post, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta defended his player.
Speaking in his post-match news conference, Arteta said: "Knowing Gabi, he's an incredible, lovely guy, and he probably didn't realise what happened. I hope that Conor is well, I will have a word with him to understand that. Probably (Martinelli) didn't recognise what happened."
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Bradley, who hit the crossbar in the first half of a cagey contest in north London, is now set for a significant spell out. "I fear the worst for Conor Bradley," Liverpool manager Arne Slot said. I don't know yet but he had to go off on a stretcher. We'll have to wait on the scans to see if it's that bad."
When asked about Martinelli's response, Slot added: "I don't know Gabriel Martinelli but he comes across as a nice guy. The problem in general in football is that there's so much time-wasting and players pretending to be injured, that you can be annoyed that you think a player is time wasting.
"You cannot expect Martinelli to think so clearly in the 94th minute. I'm a hundred per cent sure that if he knew what the injury might be, he would never do that."