Tim Vickery has stated that Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli getting picked ahead of Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino for Brazil’s squad ahead of the 2022 World Cup is a ‘risk’.
The South American football expert shared that a month ago, the Arsenal 21-year-old wasn’t even on the plane to Qatar, but it was his performance against Liverpool that seemingly changed things.
Martinelli opened the scoring during that win for Mikel Arteta’s side, with Vickery sharing that Brazil boss Tite told him that the Arsenal youngster was ‘the best player on the pitch’ for that game.
In previous squads, Firmino has been a regular for his country, but he has now been ousted by one of the Premier League’s top talents, as Martinelli is also joined by Gabriel Jesus.
The man who knows near-on everything about Brazilian football from who assisted Pele for his goals in the 1958 World Cup final to the next best superstar coming through the ranks, Vickery shared the lowdown on Martinelli’s selection and Firmino’s snub, as he told Sky Sports News (07/11/22 at 5:25 pm).
“Gabriel Martinelli, this is something which has given the coach sleepless nights,” said Vickery. “I was with the coach two or three weeks ago. It was after Arsenal had beaten Liverpool. Martinelli, the coach’s words were ‘he was been the best player on the pitch’.
“Now, back then, a month or so ago, I don’t think Martinelli was in the squad. But he has forced his way in through sheer week-after-week excellence. But it has been a very difficult decision. How are you going to get him in?
“Well, there were two options, one was to pick only one right-back and not take Daniel Alves, who is 39, that’s getting most of the headlines over here. They chose not to do that.
“The fellow that has been left out is Roberto Firmino of Liverpool. Now, Brazil are taking a bit of a risk here. Martinelli, as you know, is a wide striker. Brazil have more wide strikers than they know what to do with. What they don’t have is a straight replacement for Neymar. They don’t have a straight replacement for him in that false nine position. Firmino was their man. They have decided to leave him out.”
MARTINELLI CALL DESERVED
There is some serious talent ahead of Martinelli for Brazil and he might struggle for minutes in Qatar, but he deserves his selection.
The goalscoring threat, the attacking runs and composure in front of goal have improved tremendously and now he will be hoping to unleash all of that onto the World Cup stage.
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