Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez has relived what will surely go down as the most important save of his career outside of a penalty shootout. The Villa stopper has recalled that extra-time save and what was going through his mind at the time. Speaking to Argentine outlet TyC Sports,
Emi Martinez said: “When Muani gets it, it gets a bit diagonally. I said, well, I’ll close in slowly, I didn’t rush, because otherwise it itches on top. I had to leave him an angle so that the last vision of his is the near post. Then I played with my hand and foot, praying ‘please hit me’. I wanted him to hit me in the face, I didn’t care where. I wanted him to hit me. I don’t turn around, I close my eyes and get all hard and say ‘hit me, that’s all I ask of you’. I’m so tense and so hard that bounces forward.”
Martinez admitted the magnitude of the save didn’t hit him until much later.
Emi Martinez added: “You open the social networks and there is the save, or a boy comes to sign something and the first thing they want is the save. It’s beautiful. I did not realise the value it had because it was so fast, I remember that we went out quickly against the counter that we had the last one to win it with Lautaro’s header. I could not appreciate it as I appreciated it when the final was won. The first thing that was seen was that.”
