Arsenal’s draw against Liverpool ended in a sour fashion because of a moment of madness from Gabriel Martinelli.
The second-half substitute was causing Liverpool problems, but any view of his performance in the match was overcast by the incident involving Conor Bradley.
In injury time, the Liverpool defender was clearly hurt and went down in great discomfort by the touchline.
Martinelli assumed that Bradley was time-wasting, so he first knocked the ball against him, followed by pushing him off the pitch.
Referee Anthony Taylor showed the Brazilian a yellow card, but was it the right call?
What did you feel when you saw this unfold?
Horrible from Martinelli..
Mark Clattenburg reacts to Gabriel Martinelli incident against Liverpool
The Liverpool players swarmed around Martinelli with anger, and it has to be said that they had every right to do so.
It was a horrible act from the Arsenal winger, but in Mark Clattenburg’s eyes, it was not something that warranted a red card.
Speaking exclusively to Arsenal Insider, Clattenburg says that Taylor was right to only caution Martinelli.
“Gabriel Martinelli was correctly cautioned by Anthony Taylor for pushing Conor Bradley off the field of play whilst injured.”
Clattenburg then explained why the incident did not end in a sending off.
“The push was not violent but more a gesture, and was not in the spirit of the game to do this when a player is injured.
“For this incident to result in a red card to Martinelli, the push needs to have force and malice, and this did not, so the right decision was reached.”
Many fans cringed watching on as the 24-year-old so poorly misread Bradley’s intentions, as the Liverpool defender was clearly injured.
Gary Neville says Liverpool players should’ve whacked Martinelli
While Clattenburg’s response painted the picture of a referee, from the gantry, Gary Neville’s reaction was one of a different nature.
Should Mikel Arteta punish Gabriel Martinelli?
On Sky Sports, the pundit said, “I don’t know how Liverpool’s players didn’t go over and whack him.”
Ibrahima Konate came closest to punishing Martinelli, shoving the Arsenal player with force to also collect a booking.
Neville and many others were gobsmacked by Martinelli’s actions, which brought a stale game to a distasteful end.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
