Long before Emiliano Martínez was booked for time-wasting 39 minutes into this tempestuous knockout tie, there was an air of inevitability that the Aston Villa goalkeeper would prove the hero. So he was, with Martínez saving superbly from Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin André in a 4-3 penalty shootout victory after Matty Cash’s speculative late strike took the game to extra time. Martinez was mobbed by his teammates, Morgan Rogers jumping for a piggy-back as Villa’s players charged towards their delirious supporters stationed high in the stand at the opposite end. That, however, is only half of the story.
The whole game boiled down to a ludicrous crescendo, Martínez the centre of attention. Martínez, of course, relished being the pantomime villain as he took on a French team since his World Cup heroics for Argentina in Qatar, when he thwarted Kingsley Coman from 12 yards, and he was up to his old tricks here. His every touch was jeered from the off by the locals and, already on a booking, he was cautioned again by the referee, Ivan Kruzliak, during the spot-kicks after being warned for gamesmanship – another dollop of shithousery, you could say – but avoided being sent off and leaving Villa in the unprecedented scenario of being without a goalkeeper for the rest of the shootout because cautions are not carried forward into penalties. At the time, nobody seemed too sure. However, he is now suspended for the first leg of the semi-finals.
Continue reading…Long before Emiliano Martínez was booked for time-wasting 39 minutes into this tempestuous knockout tie, there was an air of inevitability that the Aston Villa goalkeeper would prove the hero. So he was, with Martínez saving superbly from Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin André in a 4-3 penalty shootout victory after Matty Cash’s speculative late strike took the game to extra time. Martinez was mobbed by his teammates, Morgan Rogers jumping for a piggy-back as Villa’s players charged towards their delirious supporters stationed high in the stand at the opposite end. That, however, is only half of the story.The whole game boiled down to a ludicrous crescendo, Martínez the centre of attention. Martínez, of course, relished being the pantomime villain as he took on a French team since his World Cup heroics for Argentina in Qatar, when he thwarted Kingsley Coman from 12 yards, and he was up to his old tricks here. His every touch was jeered from the off by the locals and, already on a booking, he was cautioned again by the referee, Ivan Kruzliak, during the spot-kicks after being warned for gamesmanship – another dollop of shithousery, you could say – but avoided being sent off and leaving Villa in the unprecedented scenario of being without a goalkeeper for the rest of the shootout because cautions are not carried forward into penalties. At the time, nobody seemed too sure. However, he is now suspended for the first leg of the semi-finals. Continue reading…