FA make decision on banning Martinelli after 'disgraceful' Bradley incident

Gabriel Martinelli pushed Liverpool star Conor Bradley off the pitch despite the defender having seemingly picked up a serious injury and the FA have made a decision over whether to punish him

Gabriel Martinelli will NOT face any punishment for his push on Conor Bradley that triggered a mass brawl. The Brazilian shoved the Liverpool defender off the pitch and dropped the ball on him after he seemingly picked up a serious injury in the closing stages of Thursday's evening's 0-0 draw at the Emirates.

Martinelli has since apologised and according to football.london, the FA will not take any retrospective action. Taking to social media, 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."

Martinelli's actions were slammed by pundits in the aftermath, with Gary Neville in particular left unhappy. 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."

Roy Keane agreed with Neville's verdict. He 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."

What was your take on the incident? Share your thoughts in the comments below

And while Martinelli has been criticised by some, both Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot have jumped to his defence. The Arsenal boss claimed that had he known the seriousness of Bradley's injury, he would never have attempted to move him.

He said: "Gabi is an incredible, lovely guy and probably he didn't realise what happened. I hope that Conor is well. I will have a word with him now to understand that. But probably he didn't recognise what happened."

Slot had a similar take on the incident. He 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."

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