Portsmouth fans make Gabriel Martinelli feelings clear after 'significant' Conor Bradley injury confirmed

Portsmouth supporters have rallied behind Gabriel Martinelli after the Arsenal forward’s controversial clash with Liverpool defender Conor Bradley, which left the right-back facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a “significant” knee injury. While Martinelli has been widely criticised nationally for shoving Bradley and throwing the ball at him as he lay on the turf, many Pompey fans have reacted with unexpected sympathy for the Brazilian.

The incident occurred in stoppage time of Arsenal’s goalless draw with Liverpool, when Bradley went down near the touchline holding his knee. Eager to restart play, Martinelli dropped the ball onto the defender and tried to push him off the pitch so the game could continue, sparking an angry reaction from Liverpool players and fierce debate among pundits, with some branding his behaviour “a disgrace”. Bradley was later stretchered off and subsequent scans confirmed serious damage that will rule him out for the rest of the season and Northern Ireland’s crucial World Cup play-off.

In the days since, Martinelli has publicly apologised, explaining that he did not realise Bradley was badly hurt and had assumed, in the heat of the moment, that the Liverpool man was exaggerating to waste time. Portsmouth fans, familiar with the culture of gamesmanship and time-wasting in modern football, have largely accepted this explanation. Many have argued on social media that while Martinelli’s actions looked bad in isolation, they were a rash mistake rather than malicious intent, and that constant feigning of injury across the game inevitably breeds scepticism among players.

The Bradley injury has nonetheless been described as “significant” for Liverpool’s season and for Northern Ireland, with the young full-back now facing surgery and a long rehabilitation. However, the reaction from Portsmouth’s fanbase underlines a more nuanced view of Martinelli’s conduct, separating an emotional, split-second decision from genuine malice and highlighting wider frustrations about simulation and time-wasting in the sport.