Emi Martinez repeats famous World Cup celebration

Aston Villa and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez entertained the fans with a repeat of his famous World Cup winning celebration following Argentina's victory over Chile. A replica of the Copa America trophy that his country won in July, was paraded in front of the fans.

The 3-0 victory capped another excellent night for the World Cup and Copa America winners, whilst Martinez kept his 34th clean sheet in just 46 appearances for his country.

Martinez's antics continue

The former Arsenal goalkeeper is known not just for his outstanding ability between the posts, but also for his antics in frustrating opposition fan bases. Following Argentina's penalty shootout victory over France in the final of the Qatar World Cup in 2022, Martinez was presented with the Golden Glove as recognition of the tournament's best goalkeeper. In doing so, he provided one of the most memorable moments of the tournament by turning to the crowd and thrusting the trophy towards them from the groin area. Hilarious.

Other antics in the past have included dancing in front of the opposition fans whilst playing for Aston Villa, usually when the opposition have missed a penalty. There have been two famous examples of this. The first time came in September 2021 when Aston Villa went to Old Trafford and beat Manchester United courtesy of a goal from Kourtney Hause. Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty in the final few moments and immediately after the ball was blazed over the crossbar, Martinez stood up from his dive, turned to the United crowd and produced some superb dance moves in celebration. Of course, this infuriated the Manchester United fans immensely.

The previous example came in Villa's UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final victory over Lille. Having been the star man in the Argentina team that defeated France at the World Cup, the French fans in Lille certainly didn't give Martinez a warm reception. Once again, it was penalty shootout delight for Martinez and despair for the French as Martinez produced two saves to help Villa progress to the semi-finals. Once more, Martinez's time-wasting antics, shushing of the crowd and celebratory dancing caused chaos and controversy, much to the amusement of the Villa fans.

Martinez nominated for the Yashin Trophy

The Yashin Trophy is awarded to the world's best goalkeeper as part of the Balon d'Or awards ceremony. Martinez was the winner of the award in 2023 after previously being nominated two years previously.

As a result of his huge success and exceptional record with Argentina, alongside his performances to help his club qualify for the UEFA Champions League, Martinez has once again been shortlisted for the award.

The Argentine, who recently put pen to paper on a new long-term deal at Aston Villa, will discover whether he has won the award on Monday 28th October.

UTV