{"id":314240,"date":"2026-04-06T12:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=314240"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:41:15","slug":"fa-make-martinelli-decision-after-arsenal-star-shows-ref-total-disrespect-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/fa-make-martinelli-decision-after-arsenal-star-shows-ref-total-disrespect-football\/","title":{"rendered":"FA make Martinelli decision after Arsenal star shows ref ‘total disrespect’ | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gabriel Martinelli was booked against Southampton for pushing referee Sam Barrott (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gabriel Martinelli looks set to avoid an extra punishment despite being accused of displaying \u2018total disrespect\u2019 after shoving referee Sam Barrott during Arsenal\u2019s FA Cup defeat at Southampton. <\/p>\n

The Gunners\u2019 saw one other shot at ending their six-year trophy drought evaporate on the south coast after Shea Charles\u2019 late strike earned the Championship side a deserved win and a time out at Wembley where they are going to face Chelsea within the semi-finals. <\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta\u2019s side looked like they’d gained control of the tie when substitute Viktor Gyokeres equalised midway through the second half but were left chasing the sport within the closing stages after one other uncharacteristic defensive lapse. <\/p>\n

As their desperate search for one more goal that might have taken the competition to beyond regular time intensified, frustration boiled over in Martinelli\u2019s case. <\/p>\n

The Brazil international forward was determined to take a fast free kick and in attempting to achieve this, put his hands on Barrott and gave him a mild shove. <\/p>\n

Martinelli received a yellow card for his offence but former Premier League referee Mark Halsey felt he got off extremely evenly. <\/p>\n

\u2018Referee Sam Barrott awarded a free-kick to Arsenal, Martinelli comes rushing in and he pushes Sam out of the best way,\u2019 he told The Sun. <\/p>\n

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Gabriel Martinelli let his frustrations get the higher of him against Southampton (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Now I\u2019m sorry, Gabriel Martinelli showed total disrespect for the match official Sam Barrott in that situation.<\/p>\n

\u2018Although Sam issued a yellow card, for me it\u2019s a red card. You simply cannot put your hands on a referee, let alone push him out of the best way. <\/p>\n

\u2018You\u2019ve got to go searching the country, up and down, Saturday and Sundays where we’ve local park referees going out and doing their games. <\/p>\n

\u2018What message does that send out to our local park referees?<\/p>\n

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Gabriel Martinelli was shown a yellow card for his shove on the referee (Credits: REUTERS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I assumed Sam had a superb game, he refereed the sport well, but I believe he let the refereeing community down by not sending off Gabriel Martinelli for pushing him on the award of a free-kick, so he could take the free-kick quickly.\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite Halsey\u2019s ire, the Football Association are set to take a more lenient view and, in response to The Athletic<\/a>, are unlikely to sanction Martinelli given Barrott deemed the offence only worthy of a yellow card on the time. <\/p>\n

It’s the second time this season that the 24-year-old has found himself on the receiving end of a backlash for what could generously be described as ungentlemanly conduct.<\/p>\n

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A fuming Gary Neville branded Gabriel Martinelli an \u2018idiot\u2019 for shoving an injured Conor Bradley (Picture: Sky Sports)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back in January Liverpool players were furious when the Arsenal winger attempted to shove Conor Bradley off the pitch so he could restart the sport, seemingly unaware his opponent had suffered a serious knee injury that effectively ended his season. <\/p>\n

\u2018You may\u2019t push him off the pitch,\u2019 an enraged Gary Neville said on the time. \u2018You can’t do this. You idiot. That’s so poor.<\/p>\n

\u2018I’m surprised certainly one of the Liverpool players haven’t gone over and had a right pop at him. I believe an apology is required.<\/p>\n

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\u2018He\u2019s thrown the ball at him as well. That isn’t any good. I’m actually fuming with Martinelli. I don\u2019t understand how the Liverpool players didn\u2019t go over and absolutely whack him to be honest with you and take a red card. Absolutely disgraceful, that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Martinelli wrote on Instagram: \u2018Conor and I even have messaged and I even have already apologised to him. I actually didn\u2019t understand he was seriously injured in the warmth of the moment.<\/p>\n

\u2018I need to say I\u2019m deeply sorry for reacting. Sending Conor all the perfect again for a fast recovery.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Arsenal warned \u2018perfect\u2019 Sporting hold one significant advantage in Champions League quarter-final<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Kieran Gibbs names the player Arsenal missed most in Southampton FA Cup defeat<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Mikel Arteta urged to drop \u2018world-class\u2019 Arsenal star for \u00a342m teammate<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gabriel Martinelli was booked against Southampton for pushing referee Sam Barrott (Picture: Getty) Gabriel Martinelli looks set to avoid an extra punishment despite being accused of displaying \u2018total disrespect\u2019 after shoving referee Sam Barrott during Arsenal\u2019s FA Cup defeat at Southampton. The Gunners\u2019 saw one other shot at ending their six-year trophy drought evaporate on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20686],"tags":[2605,4797,17094,5479,22065,27151,1983,795,1446],"class_list":["post-314240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-arsenal","tag-decision","tag-disrespect","tag-football","tag-martinelli","tag-ref","tag-shows","tag-star","tag-total"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314243,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314240\/revisions\/314243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}