Ian Wright has slammed Tottenham Hotspur target and former Arsenal player Emi Martinez for ‘crossing the line’ in the World Cup final on Sunday for Argentina.
The Aston Villa goalkeeper is the biggest wind-up merchant in world football and he proved that as Argentina became champions of the world by beating France in one of the most dramatic games of football ever played.
From Martinez’s perspective, it all came with his own spices, mind games and the tactics of getting under the skin of your opponents.
From thrash-talking a player, or in Aurélien Tchouaméni’s case, he threw the ball away as the France midfielder walked up to take his spot-kick – and he ended up dragging his penalty wide, which proved to be costly.
But that moment from Martinez didn’t sit well with Wright, even though he saw the Villa man show those signs during his days at Arsenal, as he told his own podcast.
“I look at Emi Martinez, remember the ____housery with Auba and all that stuff he was doing at Arsenal,” said Wright. “I was thinking this guy is going to go to another level of ___housery. And he did.
“I like Emi, but what he did in the shootout crossed the line, in respect of sportsmanship. He crossed the line.”
MARMITE MARTINEZ
If the Aston Villa number one is on your side, then he is a player you admire a lot because he is there for those crunch moments.
He proved that on football’s biggest stage, from his point-blank save in stoppage-time of extra-time to his antics during the shootout.
Just like during Argentina’s Copa America win, it’s those no-nonsense and marmite-like actions that have resulted in Martinez becoming a Copa America and World Cup winner after just 26 caps.
The 30-year-old, who is a target of Antonio Conte’s Tottenham, is now in the legendary books of Argentina and one of his nation’s greatest-ever goalkeepers.
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