Draw Martínez, versus the French. A new chapter was written this Thursday in that rivalry that has been going on for just over two years and that seems to grow every time both parties meet. Aston Villa’s victory on penalties, as a visitor against Lille, which gave them a ticket to the semifinals of the Conference League, left an exciting definition that had the Argentine goalkeeper as the protagonist. And from the perspective of the French, as the perfect villain.
The man from Mar del Plata, who had been identified by L’Equipe as “France’s number 1 enemy” based on his gestures and attitudes in the final of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, did his thing again in the outcome of the match against Lille. After stopping Nabil Bentaleb’s first penalty, the goalkeeper turned around and made the gesture of silence in front of the local fans, who exploded with fury. This forced the referee, Ivan Kruzliak, to show him the yellow card. Then, Dibu saved the penalty that gave the victory to Aston Villa – to Benjamin André – and celebrated it with his now classic little dance.
The reactions were swift. From the French side, a new affront was committed against his favorite villain. And to make matters worse, the story on French television went viral, visibly dismayed by how the definition was given. At the moment when Dibu dives to his left and deflects the Lille captain’s shot, the narrator does not contain himself: “It’s over. Was over. “Oh, it’s terrible,” he begins his speech. “It’s terrible to see that scene again,” the man with the microphone says honestly, during Martínez’s shake. “That dance by Emiliano Martínez… It’s horrible. Terrible and monumental for Lille.”
L’Equipe reviews
“Les notes de Lille – Aston Villa: André a tout tenté, Martinez les a écoeurés”, was the title of the opening note of the French media in its segment for subscribers. There it was highlighted that “André (the captain who took the last penalty) gave everything, Martínez disgusted them.”
And when specifically addressing Dibu’s actions, they did not focus on the attitudes in the penalty shootout, but more generically. Regarding Aston Villa, L’Equipe noted: “But their defense, with two experienced centre-backs, Konsa (6) and Pau Torres (6), continued to hold out and with constant desire to win time, like his goalkeeper, Emiliano Martínez (8), warned, it took too long.”
To top it off, in addition to assigning him 8 rating points for his task, the newspaper highlighted: “In the penalty shootout, the world champion goalkeeper, a specialist, It was monstrous by making two stops to Bentaleb and André and disgust the Lille team.”