Unai Emery was full of praise for one Aston Villa player after the Villans’ 2-1 win over Lille on Thursday evening.
Goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn saw the hosts secure a narrow victory during an eventful evening at Villa Park.
Bafode Diakite gave Lille hope heading into the second leg after Gabriel Gudmundsson had seen an excellent finish narrowly ruled out for offside.
Thursday’s fixture was a step up from the round of 16 tie against Ajax, and Villa will need to be at their best if they’re to progress next week.
Unai Emery lauds Emi Martinez’s contribution against Lille
Jonathan David and Hákon Arnar Haraldsson caused Villa’s high-line problems, forcing Emi Martinez into several impressive stops, particularly in the first half.
Talking to the press after the fixture, the Spaniard highlighted the £17million signing’s performance.
“The objective was today to win firstly. Second, to try to have an advantage winning but of course, respecting them always,” he said [quotes via Birmingham Live].
“We scored two goals, we were more or less controlling in the second half better than the first. We needed the goalkeeper in the first half – Emiliano was playing fantastic saving some attacks from them.”
Emi Martinez to the rescue for Aston Villa on Thursday evening
Emery cannot expect his number one to bail Villa out when the two sides meet again next week. Villa gave up an alarming number of chances on Thursday evening and will be punished if they do the same next week.
Aston Villa v Lille attacking statistics, per FotMob
The Ligue 1 giants created more than enough to draw. Per FotMob, Lille created four big chances and registered seven shots on target. Paulo Fonesca will undoubtedly be disappointed to be heading back over the English Channel empty-handed.
Martinez made six saves and amassed a prevented goals of 1.67, according to FotMob. The Argentine’s one-on-one ability cannot be questioned, and he is arguably the best on the planet at putting off strikers when through on goal.
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