LONDON: Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli apologized to Conor Bradley after bundling the injured Liverpool defender off the field in the final seconds of the teams' 0-0 draw in the Premier League on Thursday.
Bradley was writhing around in pain near the sideline after landing awkwardly on his left knee making a clearance in stoppage time.
Martinelli, clearly frustrated, walked up to Bradley, dropped the ball on him, stuck his knee into his side and then pushed the defender outside the playing surface.
Liverpool's players were livid and it sparked some pushing and shoving between members of each team. Martinelli received a booking.
“Conor and I have messaged and I've already apologized to him,” Martinelli wrote in a post on Instagram. "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.”
Liverpool manager Arne Slot said of Bradley’s injury: “Let’s hope for the best, but I fear the worst for Conor Bradley.”
“I think if a player of ours is on the floor, people might know by now that... there is something wrong with that player. I think you could see this," Slot said.
“I didn’t like to see one of my players being moved out of the pitch if he might have such a big injury, which we don’t know yet.”
Commentating on Sky Sports, former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville called Martinelli's behavior “absolutely disgraceful.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta defended Martinelli, saying “probably he doesn't know” Bradley was injured.
“Because knowing Gabi, there's zero intention,” he said.
“I don't know what happened to Conor. Hopefully, he's not bad. Obviously, there's no intention of Gabi to do anything bad to him.”
Asked about the incident, Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai said: "I think the health of a player is much more important than something else.”
