Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli has been filmed giving Liverpool stalwart Fabinho a tough time in Brazil training ahead of the World Cup.
28-second footage has emerged of the Arsenal No.11 causing mayhem from the left flank in training ahead of Brazil’s opening game against Serbia on Thursday, where Fabinho finds himself struggling to stop him.
Arsenal star torments Liverpool man
Well, if Martinelli keeps this up between now and Thursday, he could be included in the starting XI by Tite.
The 21-year-old can be seen thriving in four separate clips, with Fabinho up against him in three of those.
First, Martinelli doesn’t even let the Liverpool No.3 get near him before amazingly whipping the ball into the top right corner with some venom, drawing applause from his teammates.
Then, the South American forward bends a similar shot around Fabinho, this time clipping the crossbar.
In the third clip, Martinelli makes Fabinho look sluggish as he breezes in behind him, before cutting the ball back for a teammate to smash home.
If Tite was thinking of starting Fabinho against Serbia, he could now reconsider after seeing how poorly he coped with the Arsenal wonderkid in training.
Martinelli clearly determined to win a starting role
Tite has only ever handed Martinelli three caps for Brazil, so he is not a guaranteed starter in Qatar.
However, if he keeps performing like this in training, it will be difficult to ignore him.
Martinelli has been among the best forwards in the Premier League this season, and whatever Mikel Arteta is doing with him on the training pitches at London Colney, it’s working very well indeed.
Hopefully, Tite gives Martinelli plenty of playing time in Qatar when Brazil get their World Cup campaign underway on Thursday – with the form he’s in, the Arsenal gem could become one of the stars of the tournament.
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