An Arsenal winger who trains at ‘100 miles an hour’ was never likely to be derailed by the calls for violence aimed towards him.
Gabriel Martinelli is wired differently. Three days after Gary Neville had suggested a Liverpool player should ‘whack him’, the Brazilian responded in the only way he knows how: by tormenting defenders and scoring goals.
A ruthless FA Cup third-round hat-trick struck against Portsmouth, delivered with minimal fuss. No celebration that lingered longer than necessary. Just clinical finishing, then back to work.
It did not erase the furore caused by the touchline push on Conor Bradley that had dominated headlines after Arsenal’s fractious goalless draw with Liverpool on Thursday. Bradley had overrun the ball, lost his footing and hurt his knee – something Martinelli did not register in the split second that followed as he tried to shove him off the pitch. The Brazilian apologised soon afterwards.
Sunday’s display, though, felt like a reset – a reminder of the 24-year-old’s value and a statement of intent as he looks to reassert himself in Mikel Arteta’s formidable side.
Breaking Champions League goal records – he scored in five consecutive games this season, the first Arsenal player to achieve that feat – and earning vital points in title races are both skills on Martinelli’s CV, and explain why he has been a regular in the side for five seasons now.
Gabriel Martinelli has had an eventful week – scoring an FA Cup hat-trick against Portsmouth on Sunday after causing controversy last Thursday by trying to remove Liverpool’s injured full back Conor Bradley from the Emirates pitch
Martinelli tried to shove Bradley off the playing area so the game could carry on. Bradley’s injury is season-ending and Arsenal’s Brazilian apologised the next day
‘To play for a big club, you need a big personality,’ Mikel Arteta says of Martinelli
‘That’s why, to play for a big club, you need a big personality,’ Arteta said this week, ‘because it can be bad (reactions), it can be an action that you miss, it can be something that costs you a game. And three days later, there is a game. So you need to lift yourself up and make it count.’
Those close to Martinelli insist the Bradley incident is entirely out of his character. Former Arsenal defender turned TV pundit Martin Keown’s description of Martinelli as ‘one of the nicest people I’ve met in football’ is echoed by many.
It explains why so many within the game – at Arsenal and beyond – were quick to defend him after the Bradley brouhaha. Sources describe a player who is always smiling around the training ground, devoid of any nasty streak, and driven purely by a love for football instilled by his father, Joao, while growing up in Brazil.
Away from the pitch, Martinelli leads a quiet life. He spends much of his time with his fiancee, Isabella Rousso, and regularly visits his parents, Joao and Elizabete. Time at home and low-key family outings dominate his days off; there is no appetite for celebrity, no desire to be seen. He actively shuns the limelight and interviews.
It’s a stark difference to the flashy lives some footballers follow, a simpler life with his occupation at the core. On the pitch, there is an unmistakable intensity – but not volatility. It’s a key difference.
‘I love it (his attitude),’ Arteta said. ‘Gabi, in every context that you throw him in, he plays, he doesn’t play. He performs well, not well. He’s going to train 100 miles an hour, for sure. He’s not going to change that. And that’s Gabi.’
At London Colney, observers say he trains at match tempo, haring around the pitches with ferocious intensity. He sprints even when others jog. It’s a self-driven pressure borne from knock-backs as a child trying to break into elite football, coping with rejections from Manchester United and Barcelona before Arsenal took a chance on him thanks to the advice of their now former sporting director and fellow Brazilian Edu.
The Gunners bought the forward from Sao Paulo club Ituano for £6million in July 2019, when he was just 18, and he quickly soared from the Under 21s to the first team. He is close with Arsenal’s Brazilian cohort of Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Jesus, and is involved with the club’s sizeable Christian contingent. That sees him say pre-match prayers with the likes of Noni Madueke and Jurrien Timber.
Liverpool’s players react angrily to Martinelli trying to move Bradley at the Emirates
Martinelli scores his second goal against Portsmouth on Sunday. He went on to complete his first hat-trick for Arsenal
Martinelli started 34 of Arsenal’s 38 Premier League matches in 2022–23, scoring 15 goals as his trajectory pointed firmly upward. This season has been more stop-start
The 24-year-old enjoys a trip to Paris with his fiancee Isabella Rousso
His clash with Bradley can be traced back to the same all-or-nothing mindset, that same fiery competitiveness. Sources say his attitude is valued by Arteta because of his ability to see the wider picture, rather than sulk over game-time or bad luck.
Martinelli started 34 of Arsenal’s 38 Premier League matches in 2022–23, scoring 15 goals as his trajectory pointed firmly upward. This season has been more stop-start -just six league starts so far – which isn’t an easy change to navigate. Yet he has repeatedly delivered when called upon.
He struck a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser against Manchester City in September after entering the match in the 80th minute. In the Champions League, he has scored five goals in 294 minutes of football. The directness that defined his breakout campaign has returned, sharpened by competition from Madueke and Leandro Trossard.
Amid the noise, at heart, Martinelli remains what he has always been: a footballer who plays every minute as if it might be his last.
