Chris Sutton wowed by what ‘superb’ Emi Martinez did in memorable Aston Villa win v Bayern Munich
Emiliano Martinez proved once again that he is simply undroppable for Aston Villa with a heroic display in the memorable 1-0 Champions League win over Bayern Munich.
The Villans produced a night their supporters will never forget at Villa Park on Wednesday (2 October) as Jhon Duran’s sublime 79th-minute effort was enough to see off the German giants.
But it was World Cup winner Martinez who once again proved that he is rightly considered among the best goalkeepers in the world.
One save from the Argentina international from Michael Olise’s bending 25-yard effort wowed Chris Sutton, who was working as a pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live.
The former Villa striker said: “It is brilliant play from Michael Olise. The Villa defence can’t let him come inside on that left foot, we’ve seen him do it so many times for Crystal Palace. 25 yards out, he whips the ball towards the top corner and it is a superb top right hand from Emi Martinez. That would have been a wonderful goal.”
Emi Martinez is an Aston Villa legend
It was part of another wonderful display from the former Arsenal goalkeeper, who is firmly entrenching himself as an Aston Villa legend.
In total, the 32-year-old – who had 52 touches of the ball – managed to make seven saves, one of which was crucial from Harry Kane in the dying embers, in stats provided by SofaScore.
His stops gave him a goals prevented ranking of 0.94 and three of his saves came from inside the box, showing he was alert to the danger.
Martinez also helped to relieve the danger on a couple of occasions with two high claims and one punch registered on the night.
Impressively, Martinez also won a couple of ground duels and won a tackle, while making one clearance as he contributed in more than just his excellent goalkeeping work.
For someone usually so good with his feet, a pass accuracy of only 59% and only seven of 22 long balls being accurate will disappoint him, but the calibre of the opposition and the fact Villa needed to be a bit more direct at times have to be taken into account.
Essentially, for Villa to pull off such a huge result they needed their leading men to stand up and be counted. And boy did Martinez do that. He is simply undroppable from this Villa side.
In other Aston Villa news, the club were slated for one decision taken before the game.
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