Is there another man in the whole of world football who Aston Villa would rather have had representing them, with a place in the semi-finals of a UEFA competition on the line?
It’s fair to say he didn’t exactly get a heroes welcome when touching down in France for the second-leg of the Europa Conference League between Lille and Unai Emery’s Midland giants on Thursday.
The home fans have long memories, after all, and it will take some time to scrub the thought of Emiliano Martinez‘s gloating celebrations after Argentina’s dramatic victory over France in the 2022 World Cup final from their minds.
And ever the showman – some may use another word beginning with ‘sh’ – Martinez was never going to miss the chance to shush the home fans after another round of penalty shoot out heroics. The Aston Villa goalkeeper kept out captain Benjamin Andre and former Tottenham midfielder Nabil Bentaleb from 12 yards, pushing Emery one step closer to a fifth European title and Villa towards a first piece of silverware in 28 years.
Emiliano Martinez helps Aston Villa beat Lille
“The Aston Villa goalkeeper? He was decisive in both matches. The first (leg) and today,” sighs Paulo Fonseca, the Lille head coach speaking to Daily Mercato after Martinez reminded everyone exactly why he was named FIFA’s Goalkeeper of the Year not so long ago.
“Last week, we had clear chances to win. He stopped them and, today, he was decisive on penalties. He’s a great goalkeeper.”
Jonathan David, Lille’s £26 million record signing, reluctantly had to agree. While the free-scoring Canada international shared the view of Lille president Olivier Letang – feeling that Martinez’s antics were not exactly becoming – there is no doubt at all about the former Arsenal man’s reputation as something of a ‘penalty killer’.
“We lost. It’s disappointing,” David says, via Le11HDF. “We fought until the end, but it wasn’t our day. We wanted to win the match in normal time. That didn’t happen. It’s a tactical match afterwards. No one wants to go out there and lose the match.
“It’s true that they have a good goalkeeper for penalties, but we had our chances. It was a great journey. We will come back stronger.”
Unai Emery nearing another European title
Emery, who guided Sevilla to a trio of Europa League/UEFA Cup triumphs and also defeated Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United while in the Villarreal hotseat, could yet end his first full season in charge of Aston Villa with a first piece of silverware since the turn of the Century and Champions League qualification.
Villa, who needed a late and deflected Matty Cash strike to take the game to penalties on Thursday, will take on Greek giants Olympiakos in the Conference League semi-finals. Club Brugge go head-to-head with Fiorentina – runners-up behind West Ham United last season – in the other section.
“It feels good. It feels good,” Martinez tells VillaTV. “I love this football club, and playing in a semi-final for them is something incredible.
“My career keeps going up and up. And you need to celebrate little victories after 42 years without a semi-final in European competitions. It’s remarkable.
“We want to go all the way. That’s the message we’ve been saying after the game just now. We need to have that mentality to think when we play the next game, we need to kill the game at home.”