4 min readApr 10, 2025 01:52 PM IST
First published on: Apr 10, 2025 at 01:52 PM IST
Even before the Champions League game began on Wednesday, just as he ran out of the tunnel, Emi Martinez, Argentina’s and Aston Villa’s goalkeeper, was received with a ring of boos around the stadium. Few seconds into the game, more boos followed when he received the ball for the first time in the game. And right at the end, after his team lost 1-3 to PSG, the camera zoomed in on Martinez, wincing in agony at the loss, and the crowd jeering.
A day before the game, he walked into the football stadium with a baseball cap that had an emblem of the World Cup, two Copa Americas covering a French cockerel. The image was also posted on official twitter account of Aston Villa, triggering backlash from the PSG fans.
France’s So Foot magazine republished their 2023 feature story “The Goalkeeper We Love to Hate”. “Before the World Cup, he was an unknown. Then he upset France, embarrassed the rest of the world with his celebrations, and sparked a baby boom in Argentina . In just one competition, he became a bastard to some and a hero to others,” it stated.
His team-mate Youri Tielemans had said he wasn’t fussed about Eli’s methods. “I don’t really care, I’m here to play the game, whatever happens with Emi as long as it happens respectfully in football terms then I don’t mind,” he said. I have got no idea (about the cap), to be honest. I don’t know, that’s probably his style, but the only thing I can say is that he’s ready for the game tomorrow, and he’s not spoken any differently than for any other game. I think he’s focused and he’s looking forward.” And once the game began, the PSG fans laid into Martinez.
None of it was surprising, of course. It dates back to the Qatar world cup, where he was magnificent in holding off France with his skill and mind games in the final shootouts, and was involved in the taunting of Kylian Mbappe during Argentina’s World Cup trophy celebrations. The 30-year-old also made a vulgar gesture upon receiving the Golden Glove award at the World Cup final.
Standing next to Messi on the celebration bus-parade in Buenos Aires in Argentina, Martinez was seen holding a baby doll with the face of Mbappe stuck to it. Almost immediately after the final, inside Argentina’s dressing room, the Argentina players danced and were all heard singing “a minute’s silence for” in tandem, before leaving a gap for goalkeeper Martinez to shout: “For Mbappe who is dead!”
“There’s nothing personal against him. I respect him enormously. If we sing about him, it’s because he’s a star,” Martinez would say later. Representative Karl Olvie , who was also the president of the Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee , asked FIFA to strip the goalkeeper of the Golden Glove . Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra described Martínez’s gestures and words as “pathetic, vulgar, and out of place.” defender Adil Rami , a 2018 World Cup champion in Russia, wrote on his Instagram that Martinez was “the biggest piece of shit in the world of football, the most hated man.”
Last year, he turned up in France for the first time since the Qatar antics for Aston Villa’s game against Lille. It was expectedly a tempestuous affair, with the crowd jeering his every touch, and he riling them with gestures – shushing them, and saving two penalties. And as ever, he defended his goal post admirably and starred in Villa’s win. He was booked twice in that game, for time-wasting.
It’s in this context that he came now to France to play the game against PSG.
Emi Martinez, Argentina’s and Aston Villa’s goalkeeper, was received with a ring of boos around the stadium against PSG on Wednesday. (Reuters) 
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