Martinelli apologises to Bradley after shoving injured Liverpool defender off the pitch

Gabriel Martinelli has apologised to Conor Bradley after shoving the Liverpool defender off the pitch while he lay seriously injured during Arsenal’s 0-0 draw at the Emirates on Thursday night. Bradley, 22, left the stadium on crutches wearing a supportive brace on his left knee.

Martinelli threw the ball at Bradley and manhandled him in the closing stages of the match, prompting immediate anger from Liverpool’s players and a booking for the Arsenal winger. Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane described Martinelli as “a disgrace”.

In a subsequent Instagram story, Martinelli wrote: “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.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had already defended his player before the social media post was published. “Knowing Gabi, he’s an incredible, lovely guy, and he probably didn’t realise what happened,” Arteta said in his post-match press conference. “I hope that Conor is well, I will have a word with him to understand that. Probably he didn’t recognise what happened.”

Liverpool manager Arne Slot admitted he feared the worst for his right-back. “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,” Slot said. Bradley had struck the crossbar in the first half before being forced off.

Slot was measured in his assessment of Martinelli’s reaction, acknowledging the broader context of time-wasting in the game. “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.”

The draw leaves Arsenal six points clear at the top of the Premier League, with reigning champions Manchester City now 14 points behind the Gunners.