Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez speaks on why he believes he’s misunderstood after being called a ‘wind up merchant’.
Earlier this week, the 31 year old Argentinian signed a new deal to extend his stay with Aston Villa to 2029, having already made 160 appearances for them.
He says he’s fallen in love with the club, wants to spend the best years of his playing career with them, and wants to be part of Villa’s project as well as their future progression.
In the last few years, he’s been hailed as the best goalkeeper in the world while also been described as the biggest wind-up merchant in football today.
However, he’s downplayed that tag, instead suggesting that he’s actually a big softie who loves to carry a cuddly giraffe and penguin teddy around the world for good luck. And yet this is a guy who was called “the most hated Argentinian” by French media not too long back.
“I wanted to prove to myself more than anyone,” Martinez said, per Birmingham Mail / The Times. “I wanted to be an international player, play every game, I knew the history of Aston Villa, obviously not as much as I know now. When I started playing here I fell in love with the crowd, with the fans. My kids were born here. You need to be where you feel happy and certainly I feel happy here.
“I have changed a lot since Unai came here. I was really good at defending low blocks, crosses coming into the boxes, I’m strong in the air, but Javi and Unai made me more like a centre-back player, covering defence, sweeping. I wasn’t sweeping until Unai came in, but I’m good at it. I’m good at sweeping, I’m good at reading the ball. It has made me more complete, so nowadays I’m trying to have no weaknesses.”
Martinez, under Unai Emery, has helped get Aston Villa back into Europe for the second season running after a 7th place finish in 2022/23 and then fourth in 2023/25 to qualify for Champions League football.
Villa got as far as the semi final stage in the Europa Conference League, then kept their place in the Premier League top four despite an injury list throughout the season.
“If you want to be the best, to be the best Villa or win a trophy, you need to improve yourself from last season,” Martinez said. “There is a lot of improvement [to be had]. We conceded a lot of goals, it’s something we need to reduce, it’s something I’m trying to work on with Javi and Unai.
“If we can reduce the amount of goals we are conceding, I think we have got more chance of being in the top four and winning a trophy, something that has been missing for – I don’t know – more than 40 years? It is something that the fans really want.
“I am talking to Javi, I’m speaking loudly in training saying: ‘We need to win a trophy, we need to at least play a final’. This club and these fans deserve a cup run.
“That’s the aim [to win trophies]. That’s one of the reasons why I had so many meetings with Monchi and Damian at the Copa America. I love it here, obviously, but I wouldn’t stay at a club where I don’t see progress. Because I want to achieve things, I want to win things, I want to keep trying to be the best goalie in the world if I can. They showed me the plan, Unai’s plan, who Unai wants to sign … we know how he works and it is amazing. I want to be at a club where they are moving forward.
“With the manager we have got, he was in the semi-final of the Champions League with Villarreal. He won five Europa Leagues … for Villa, it being our first time in the Champions League, it is going to be new for us, but when you have a manager and players like we have you can go all of the way.
“I know with PSR they can’t really sign as much as the owner wants, it’s going to be a little bit harder than everyone thinks. We had to sell players, which Unai didn’t want, so it is a work in progress. With players coming in, they need to adapt to the new system and so it is not easy for Unai either.
“Last year we had the experience of a semi-final of a European competition. Now it is going to be harder. If we manage to keep everyone fit then we can go [deep]. If we have four, five, six injuries, then we are going to be struggling. In the meantime, with everyone fit, I believe that we can compete with anyone.”
🗣️ “Sometimes when you see me from the outside, you think, ‘He looks a show-off’. But no, I’m just a normal guy, a family man”
The Aston Villa and Argentina goalkeeper Emi Martínez tells @CharDuncker why he believes he is misunderstood ⬇️https://t.co/Ro4641VuM4
— Times Sport (@TimesSport) August 24, 2024
He recalled the penalty shoot-out in Lille which saw Villa reach the semi final. Aston Villa keeper Emi Martinez speaks on the booking confusion after being booked twice but escaped being sent off due to little known rule.
Martinez received a yellow card for time-wasting in the first half of Villa’s Europa Conference League match against Lille. He was warned before stepping up to save a spot kick from Nabil Bentaleb, then shushed the crowd.
Moments after, he made the same gesture to the home crowd after his save and received another booking from referee Ivan Kruzliak.
Although it was his second yellow of the game, he was still able to stay on the pitch.
According to IFAB rules, yellow cards during normal time are not carried into penalty shootouts, much to the relief of Martinez.
Martinez then saved a second penalty from Benjamin Andre to send Villa through to the semi-finals of the competition.
After VAR checked to see he stayed on his line, he turned around to the home fans behind the goal and did a quick dance before running off to celebrate with his teammates.
Emi Martinez silences the Lille fans by saving the first penalty 🧤
Then looks to get a second yellow from the referee?! 🤯
But doesn’t get sent off 😬#UECL
📺 @TNTSports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/qU76fw9AGs
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2024
Emi Martinez saves and wins Aston Villa the penalty shootout to progress to the semi-finals! 🧤
And he celebrates right in front of the Lille fans 😳#UECL pic.twitter.com/u4Xq836xck
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2024
“I thought I was off … I think everyone in football thought that,” he continued. “I was actually asking for a ball from the ball boy. ‘Can you please give me the ball?’ Then I was booked for that. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. So I was lucky. Because of that I missed the semi-final at home in front of the fans, so after all that it was disappointing.”
“I have always been a good penalty saver since I was very, very young,” he says. “I think I only lost one shoot-out in my whole career, it’s something I’ve always been pretty good at. I always think I am going to save two or three in a shoot-out. When you play 90 minutes and it is a penalty completely different, the pressure is completely different.
“But as the years went on, they have stopped the goalie going in front of the lines, so you cannot step over. You need to think about leaving one foot on the line. Sometimes you need to have a little bit of luck but for me, working on it, reading the strikers, it is something that comes from within you.
“Maybe they see me in goal and they know I’m a penalty saver, maybe they think they need to put it a little bit wider or higher, maybe they miss. It’s something I’m trying to create. I know top strikers don’t really get nervous but when you have a good striker shooting at you think: ‘Oof’, and you need to push yourself. Maybe I am trying to push them [my opponents] a little bit.
“Sometimes when you see me from the outside, you think: ‘He looks a show-off’. But no, I’m just a normal guy, a family man. But when it is about winning I try everything I can to win the game.
“I don’t apologise. I don’t swear, I don’t insult anyone. I just try to help my team – that’s all. I never insult any religion, any player, any mum. I always respect the players. I just want to win the game.
“Everyone has their own things. I never try to wind fans up, I never do that. I just try to slow things down when the game is against us. I try to kick the ball as hard as I can to the other side. But, you know, if you keep yourself steady and you don’t insult any religion, any mum, I think you can do whatever you want.
“I don’t cross a line, I never do. I think respecting families and countries is something I will never cross. So I always try to keep myself steady. When you ask all of my teammates, those in the national team, I do everything for my team, I try to help everyone in the club. The only thing that I want is the best for my club and country. That is all that I care about.”
Emi Martínez on his excitement about signing a new contract and why he’s so committed to the club’s future 🙌 pic.twitter.com/i52oWqNwJ9
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 21, 2024
On if he Messi would be tempted to join Martinez at Villa: “I don’t think he was going to come to Birmingham, cold and rainy weather … no chance!”
On changing squad number at Villa from 1 to 23: “I won all the trophies with the national team with the number 23 and it’s the day my boy was born.” he explains. “I want to bring silverware to the fans, to Villa. I’m really superstitious to be fair.
“I’ve got loads [of superstitions]. One of them is having the teddy bears my wife gave to me before the World Cup. She said: ‘You are going to bring the golden cup home.’ I was 40 days away from the family and I did it.
“I always keep a picture of them on my shin pads, the teddy bears. I keep them, my family, with me everywhere I go. I keep my same routine: I make sure I do pilates, yoga two days before, I pray before the games, have psychologist meetings. I always keep the same routine.”
On speaking with psychologist David Priestley: “I always have had a strong mentality but I do work with a sports psychologist, who I used to work with at Arsenal. I have been working with him for almost five, six years. I work with him before every match as a routine. He is a guy who helped me from my lowest at Arsenal and someone I really respect.
“He brings me down when I’m too high, he lifts me when I’m too low, and I think that is someone every player needs. It is an investment I do, time in the week that I have to work with him. If you see my performances, I’m never 10, but I’m never four. I’m trying to always be a seven.”
