Gary Neville fuming with Gabriel Martinelli for ‘disgraceful’ behaviour vs Liverpool | Football | Sport

Gabriel Martinelli was labelled “disgraceful” by Gary Neville after the Arsenal ace was lucky to avoid a red card during the goalless draw against Liverpool. The winger was embroiled in a late skirmish with the Liverpool players after an incident involving Conor Bradley, who was lying down injured. 

Martinelli had initially dropped the ball onto the head of Bradley, before moments later taking it into his own hands to try and shift the right-back off the pitch. Liverpool players reacted angrily to the move, with referee Anthony Taylor brandishing a yellow card to Martinelli.

After watching the incident play out, Neville was seething with the actions of Martinelli, suggesting he was lucky to have stayed on the pitch. Speaking on the Sky Sports commentary, Neville said: “You can’t push him off the pitch, you cannot do that. That is so poor. 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.”

During the post-match debrief, Roy Keane shared a similar sentiment, saying: “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.”

Whereas, when asked about it after the full-time whistle, Mikel Arteta – who was booked for repeatedly leaving his technical area – refused to condemn his player’s actions. He told Sky Sports: “Probably he doesn’t know, I don’t know what happened to Conor. Obviously, there is no intention from Gabi to do anything bad to him.”

Following the coming together, Arsenal were unable to find a winning goal, meaning they remain six points clear of the chasing pack. The Premier League will now take a nine-day break for the FA Cup third round, with action resuming on January 17.