Ian Wright has heaped praise on former Arsenal goalkeeper Emi Martienz as he played key part in Argentina’s World Cup victory
Share:Argentina faced France in the World Cup 2022 final. The game ended in a 2-2 draw after an intense display from both teams as Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria scored for Argentina, meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe formed a double.
It was taken to the extra time as the game ended in a draw. In the extra time, Messi scored one more goal, meanwhile, Mbappe equalized and scored a hat-trick.
Following the 120, the score stood 3-3 and the game was decided on penalties as Copa America 2021 champs won the World Cup 2022.
Emi Martinez was a key player for Argentina’s squad because it was his effort in the penalty shootouts that got Argentina to the final and won it.
Martinez saved two penalties in their win over the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and saved two penalties as well in the final against France.
The 30-year-old goalkeeper had a difficult time when he was playing for Arsenal from 2012 to 2020 as he was loaned out to different clubs before he joined Aston Villa in 2020.
Now Martinez has won both Copa America and World Cup with having made 26 appearances for the national team in overall and has lost only once.
“You mention Emi Martinez, I remember him being at Arsenal,” said Wright told ITV Sport. “It’s when Bernd Leno got injured. It was funny. He took his opportunity.
“Then he was saying ‘I want to be Argentina’s number one goalkeeper’. This is the reason why he wanted to do that. He has gone to Villa and done brilliantly. He has made himself Argentina’s number one.
“And he was in the perfect position doing what he does best, and that’s saving penalties.”