Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez was at the thick of everything once again as Unai Emery’s men edged into the Europa Conference League semi-finals on Thursday night, beating Lille on penalties.
Villa came into the second leg on Thursday night with plenty to do. Winning 2-1 at Villa Park but given plenty to worry about by the likes of Jonathan David, Emery’s men knew it’d be a tough test in France.
Indeed, Lille took the lead in France to the delight of their crowd – Yusuf Yazici levelling the tie after just 15 minutes. Then, Lille captain Andre put his side ahead on 67 minutes, with Villa struggling to cope.
Certainly, the momentum was with Lille and inside the last five minutes, it looked as if Villa would be knocked out – but Matty Cash, perhaps controversially, slammed one into the net late on, on 87 minutes.
Aston Villa beat Lille on penalties to reach semi-finals
The game went to penalties, with the referee handing out 10 yellow cards throughout the game – and a yellow to both managers, Emery and Paulo Fonseca. Martinez was in his natural territory, a shootout.
Having starred at the World Cup in just this position, Martinez instantly started getting the stadium riled up. But on a yellow, there was confusion when the referee showed him another yellow for gesturing.
However, it was claimed during commentary that the reason he was not sent off, was because a yellow in a shootout is not carried over from the actual match. Luckily then, Martinez could continue the shootout.
Steve Sidwell reacts as Emi Martinez shines during shootout
He stopped two of Lille’s penalties, denying former Tottenham midfielder Nabil Bentaleb and then Lille’s goalscorer and captain Andre. His customary dance then came out, after sending Villa into the semi-finals.
Steve Sidwell spoke immediately after the match about Argentina star Martinez, stating he knows what he is doing when he is winding up the fans – and delaying opposition from taking penalties. It clearly worked.
“It’s all down to Emi Martinez. It’s all about the mind games, a nerve-wracking time but if you have a player like that, winding up the players and the crowd – he knows what he’s doing,” Sidwell told TNT.
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