Emi Martinez caught in ‘incredible’ moment for Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
Marc Albrighton couldn’t believe what he was seeing as Emiliano Martinez made a “superb” save for Aston Villa at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live (14 December, 6:48pm), Albrighton struggled to figure out just how Martinez kept out Nicolas Dominguez’s deflected header, minutes before Jhon Duran put Villa 1-0 up.
Martinez spun backwards on his own line to somehow get his forearm to the ball and parry it out of the goalmouth, but it didn’t prove enough to prevent a late Forest turnaround as they won 2-1 at the death.
Albrighton said: “I thought it was in, but what a superb save – he’s got down so low.
“He’s not even facing the same way, not even facing the way of the ball, not even facing towards the pitch, Martinez, and he’s just managed to claw it out.
“I honestly can’t believe – he’s facing the complete opposite way and he’s manages to just put an arm out and claw it off the line – it’s centimetres from going in, that’s incredible.”
Emi Martinez can’t bail Aston Villa out again v Nottingham Forest
Although the Argentine could have done better to keep out Nikola Milenkovic’s close-range header late on in Villa’s Premier League clash at the City Ground, his earlier save had to be seen to be believed.
That unbelievable stop did seem to spur Unai Emery’s side on to take the lead against the run of play through Duran’s pinpoint header, but their defensive frailties were exposed to leave Martinez reeling.
Villa have relied heavily on their goalkeeper to keep them in big games this season, both domestically and on the continent, but Martinez can’t save every single effort which comes near his uprights.
Albrighton and the rest of the travelling fans inside the City Ground will have thought the 32-year-old was unbeatable given his heroics, but Forest’s late surge consigns them to another defeat.
Few positions in Emery’s side are as assured as his between the sticks, but it’s clear that his world-class moments can only make up for so much below-par defending in claret and blue.
In other Aston Villa news, the German media called one Villa star a “whirlwind” after what he did against RB Leipzig in midweek.
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