The Argentine goalkeeper Forty-two years later, Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martínez led Spanish coach Unai Emery’s Aston Villa to a new European semifinals after certifying the English team’s qualification for the penultimate round of the Football Conference League by stopping up to two shots in the penalty shootout in which the tie with Lille was resolved.
A round of maximum penalties in which the Albiceleste international showed his two faces, on the one hand that of the magnificent goalkeeper who grows like few others when faced with eleven-meter shots and on the other that of the provocateur who drives his rivals out of their minds with his gestures.
In fact, at times it seemed that he would be sent off after seeing his second yellow card during the penalty shootout, after being cautioned in the first half for losing time. But the regulation establishes that the yellow cards shown during the regulation time and Extra time will not be taken into account in the penalty shootout, since it is considered that this is not part of the match.
A circumstance that allowed ‘Dibu’ Martínez not only to continue between the sticks, but to become a hero of Aston Villa after stopping the shots of the Algerian Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin André and the victory (3-4) for the ‘villains’ after a match which ended with the French team 2-1 after extra time.
Extra time that Aston Villa forced with a goal from Poland’s Matty Cash in the 87th minute that spoiled the party for Lille which was already seen in the semifinals after turning around the 2-1 lead in the first leg with the goals (2-0) from the Turkish Yusuf Yazici and Benjamin André.
An extra time in which the local goalkeeper prevented the English victory with a spectacular double intervention from shots by Leon Bailey and Douglas Luiz, but when the moment of truth arrived, there was only one hero in the penalty shootout: ‘Dibu’ Martínez.
The Argentine took Villa to the European semifinals with his saves, which they had not played since 1982, when they were crowned European champions. Forty-two years of drought, which ‘Dibu’ Martínez put an end to this Thursday.