Gary Lineker has taken to Twitter to react after watching footage of Emiliano Martinez in action for Argentina last night.
What’s the story?
Well, the Aston Villa glovesman played a significant role as his country knocked Colombia out of the Copa America.
Martinez saved three penalties as Argentina progressed into the final of the tournament, where they’ll face Brazil.
The Aston Villa shot-stopper saved penalties from Everton’s Yerry Mina, Tottenham’s Davinson Sanchez and Edwin Cardona.
In the footage, we can also see a very animated Lionel Messi reacting emotionally to each spot-kick.
The Barcelona forward can also be seen giving Mina a bit of an earful after he missed his penalty.
What does Gary Lineker think?
After watching the footage, Lineker described Martinez as ‘brilliant’.
The BBC Match of the Day pundit’s tweet can be seen in full below.
Last night really did emphasise how far Martinez has come in the space of a year.
Not too long ago, the 28-year-old was Arsenal’s No.2 behind Bernd Leno.
Now, he is one of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers, and is playing a starring role for his country on what was only his fifth appearance.
That £17 million fee is now looking like a snip for the Villans.
You could even argue that Martinez has been the best signing of the Dean Smith era – that’s how good he’s been.
At just 28, he could be Aston Villa’s No.1 for the next decade.
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