FA make decision on Gabriel Martinelli punishment after Arsenal ref incident | Football | Sport
Gabriel Martinelli is expected to escape further punishment from the Football Association following his contact with the referee during Arsenal’s surprise FA Cup exit to Southampton. The Arsenal forward received a yellow card in the dying moments of the 2-1 defeat at St Mary’s after making contact with Sam Barrott’s arm.
The incident occurred in the 94th minute when Martinelli touched the referee while attempting to take a free-kick quickly. However, with Barrott addressing the matter on the pitch, The Athletic claim that he is unlikely to face additional sanctions from the FA.
Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey condemned the Brazilian’s behaviour and insisted that he should have received a straight red card. He said: “Referee Sam Barrott awarded a free-kick to Arsenal, Martinelli comes rushing in and he pushes Sam out of the way.
“Now I’m sorry, Gabriel Martinelli showed total disrespect for the match official Sam Barrott in that situation.
“Although Sam issued a yellow card, for me it’s a red card. You just cannot put your hands on a referee, let alone push him out of the way. You’ve got to look around the country, up and down, Saturday and Sundays where we have local park referees going out and doing their games. What message does that send out to our local park referees?
“I thought Sam had a good game, he refereed the game well, but I think he let the refereeing community down by not sending off Gabriel Martinelli for pushing him at the award of a free-kick, so he could take the free-kick quickly.”
Ref Support UK, a charity which trains and supports officials, wrote on X: “The FA cannot let him get away with that. This will be a missed opportunity if they don’t take action against Arsenal and Martinelli.
“There has been too many incidents in football where refs are pushed or shoved and football cannot let it escalate any more. I would have loved to see the ref send him off.”
This would represent the second occasion this season that Martinelli has escaped retrospective punishment, following widespread calls for a ban after an incident involving Conor Bradley.
On that occasion, Martinelli shoved the Liverpool defender off the pitch while he was injured.
This latest transgression from Martinelli added to a thoroughly wretched evening for the Gunners, whose treble ambitions were extinguished.
Having already suffered defeat in the Carabao Cup final before the international break, the fixture against the Championship outfit appeared to offer the ideal opportunity to bounce back. Instead, they were well beaten, with Shea Charles netting a late winner.
Southampton will now face Manchester City at Wembley, leaving Arsenal to turn their attentions to the Champions League and Premier League.
