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Aston Villa's Emi Martinez pulled off a great performance against LOSC Lille in the second leg of the quarter-final of the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday, April 18, which ended in a 4-3 win on penalties for the Premier League side.
The first leg ended in a 2-1 victory for Villa, with English forward Ollie Watkins and captain John McGinn getting on the scorecard. In the second leg, Lille took the lead through Yusuf Yazici 15 minutes into the match and doubled their advantage when Benjamin Andre scored in the 67th minute.
In the 87th minute, Villa's Matty Cash scored the equalizer on aggregate which sent the match to extra time and eventually a penalty shootout. Aston Villa's first penalty was successfully netted by Youri Tielemans. Emi Martinez then blocked LOSC Lille's first spot kick by Nabil Bentaleb.
While both clubs successfully scored their second and third penalties, Villa's Leon Bailey missed the fourth one while Lille's Remy Cabella converted his. With the score level going into the last penalty, Douglas Luiz scored for the Premier League side and Martinez proved himself once again with a match-winning save.
The second leg took place at LOSC Lille's home ground, Decathlon Arena - Stade Pierre Mauroy. Fans of the French club expressed their disapproval of Emi Martinez throughout the encounter and booed him for his saves for Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final agianst France.
Several fans, however, took to social media to appreciate the Argentine goalkeeper's performance, which led the Villans to the semi-finals. Here is a collection of their posts on X (formerly Twitter):
"Hate him or love man’s a genius when it comes to penalties."
"fairs martinez stood on business."
"Martinez is the best in the world," another fan himed in.
"He’s the best thing that happened to Messi."
"We need more Emi Martinez’s in football. Seriously," wrote another.
"thank god emi martinez exists."
While another wrote:
"Emi Martinez is a penalty hero."
Aston Villa have now made a European semi-final for the first time since 1982. They will face Olympiacos in the first leg of the semi-final of the UEFA Europa Conference League on May 2.
Aston Villa's Emi Martinez received 2 bookings in the match
During the second leg, Aston Villa's 31-year-old goalkeeper received his first booking of the match in the 39th minute by Slovakian referee Ivan Kruzliak, for time-wasting.
The Argentine received his second yellow card during the penalty shootout, for shushing the home supporters after he saved Lille's first penalty kick. However, he was not sent off due to the fact that any bookings received during the match do not carry over into a penalty shootout and are automatically reset.
Aston Villa are currently fourth in the Premier League table with 63 points in 33 matches. They lead Tottenham Hotspur by three points but have played a game more. Their next Premier League fixture is at home against Bournemouth on Sunday, April 21.
