Lille 2-1 Aston Villa (Yazici 15′, Andre 67′ | Cash 87′) – Aston Villa advance 4-3 on penalties (3-3 agg.)
STADE PIERRE-MAUROY — Well, you learn something new every day, and trust a player of Emi Martinez’s disposition to enlighten us all on a wild night in France.
It’s rarely dull when Martinez is in town, and somehow Aston Villa’s remarkable juggling act continues into the Europa Conference League semi-finals after the goalkeeper’s penalty heroics amid mass confusion at Lille.
After all, how many times are you left asking about red cards in penalty shootouts? Martinez had been booked for time-wasting in the first half of a tie that had been getting away from Villa, and was then shown a second yellow after shushing the Lille fans.
That goading, part of a back-and-forth between player and home supporters all night, came after his first save in the shootout, where it turns out previous yellow cards from the actual game are wiped out.
If anyone knew that rule in real time, they were few and far between inside this stadium, this rarity making for a commotion seldom seen at a time when so much was on the line.
Ifab Law 10
“Warnings and cautions (YCs) issued during the match (including during extra time) are not carried forward into kicks from the penalty mark (KFPM). A player who receives a YC during both the match and the KFPM is not sent off. The two separate cautions are reported to the appropriate authorities.”
Lille’s bench, for one, looked perplexed, and while a puzzled press box sought clarity amid impending deadlines, the stadium became a cauldron of noise. Martinez, though, somehow kept his cool, going on to save a second penalty that sent Villa into their first European semi-final since 1982.
Emi Martinez silences the Lille fans by saving the first penalty
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2024
Then looks to get a second yellow from the referee?!
But doesn't get sent off#UECL
@TNTSports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/qU76fw9AGs
— Emi Martínez (@emimartinezz1) April 18, 2024
Martinez duly led the celebrations as he sprinted over to the Villa fans at the opposite end. His last penalty save prior to last night helped Argentina win the World Cup. Two more here were enough to continue Villa’s pursuit of a first major trophy since 1996.
“It’s been a hell of a ride all my career. I’m always a believer and a hard worker. It was my destiny to win here again,” Martinez told TNT Sports.
“I’ve just got a bad reputation for time-wasting but the other goalkeeper was doing exactly the same thing.
“In the shootout, there was no ball on the penalty spot and I was asking for a ball from the ball boy… and then I get booked. I just don’t understand the rules. I know my teammates need me and I own my box. I just used all my experience.”
Experience and then some. Martinez had already made a remarkable save, with his face, in the first half after Lille took a deserved lead on the night through Yusuf Yazici to level the tie 2-2 on aggregate.
Lille then edged ahead thanks to Benjamin Andre’s header, only for Villa – who had looked short of ideas all night – to score late on through Matty Cash’s deflected effort, a goal that took the match to extra time.
And then, after both sides went close, to penalties, where Villa hoped the lottery of a shootout wasn’t quite so with Martinez in goal.
Jeered from the very moment he first went near the Lille ultras just before kick-off, the boos got louder as he headed that side for the shootout.
Martinez’s antics during the post-World Cup celebrations had irked French fans more than his actual performance in the 2022 final against France – back in Buenos Aires he held a baby doll with Kylian Mbappe’s face on it – and so the shush was no surprise, nor was the fact he got the last laugh, as he did two years ago.
And so, after escaping a red thanks to an Ifab rule many of us will never forget, onwards Martinez and Villa march, the near 3,000-strong travelling fans not quite believing what they just witnessed.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/w9UxR8H
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