- Emiliano Martinez helped Aston Villa defeat Lille and go to the Europa Conference League semi-finals with his performance in a penalty shootout.
Emiliano Martinez helped Aston Villa defeat Lille and go to the Europa Conference League semi-finals with his performance in a penalty shootout.
Matty Cash gave Villa a lifeline with four minutes left after Yusuf Yazici and Benjamin Andre scored goals either side of halftime to give Lille a merited 3-2 lead on aggregate.
Even while the equalizer was exciting in and of itself, it was nothing compared to what transpired in the subsequent penalty shootout after extra time proved unable to break the deadlock.
Unbeknownst to most, Martinez, who was already on a booking, was given a yellow card for alleged gamesmanship during the early stages of the shootout. However, the caution from the game does not apply to penalties.
After stopping Nabil Bentaleb’s initial spot kick and deflecting Andre’s fifth to give Villa a 4-3 victory from 12 yards out and a trip to the semis, caused Martinez to be taunted mercilessly throughout.
Olympiacos advanced to the semifinals, where they will take on Villa after the Greek team defeated Fenerbahce in a penalty shootout.
Poor first-half from Aston Villa
Aston Villa players. Photo/ Birminghamlive
It was to the visitors’ advantage that the first fifteen minutes at Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre-Mauroy went by without any problems, but Lille would soon grab the lead with their first noteworthy attempt.
After cutting to the left, Gabriel Gudmundsson sent a dangerous low cross into the penalty box, where Yazici scored his first goal from 14 yards out into the far bottom corner.
Lille persisted in controlling the ball, with Villa posing little danger up front. They relied on Emiliano Martinez being struck in the face by the ball to save Andre’s header from finding the back of the net, with the same player then missing the far post shortly after.
Villa did not have a single effort on goal in the first forty-five minutes, despite Lille’s threat not being maintained.
After the break, Emery would have insisted on significant changes, but in less than a minute, Villa came dangerously close to losing the lead when Hakon Arnar Haraldsson missed a clear opportunity to shoot from 20 yards.
When Matty Cash advanced after being set up by Moussa Diaby and John McGinn, Villa had their first opportunity in the 56th minute, but the right-back’s effort went harmlessly into the side goal.
But that did little more than give Lille the momentum they needed to score a second goal. Following an inswinging corner, Andre—who had looked threatening in the first half—guided a header into the top corner of the goal via the inside of the post, leaving Martinez with no chance.
With ten minutes left, Emery sent in Leon Bailey and Jhon Duran, but astonishingly, they managed to score just one goal the entire time.
This quickly changed when Bailey’s poorly struck shot was easily stopped by Lucas Chevalier, the goalie for Lille, and Cash forced the goalkeeper to tip his long-range attempt over the bar.
Four minutes from time, Villa finally got the break they most likely needed. While trying to claim a cross, Chevalier ran into a defender. Duran’s effort was stopped, but Cash was still out of position when the ball dropped to him outside the area and he deflected it into the net.
Bafode Diakite, Lille’s goal scorer from the first leg, had five minutes of additional time to win it, but his header was straight at a thankful Martinez.
Until Bailey and Douglas Luiz each came dangerously near, the first ten minutes of extra time had little entertainment value. Bailey’s long-range shot was deflected by Chevalier into Luiz’s path, giving him a chance to score on the rebound, but his header was too near to the goalie, who somehow lifted the ball over the crossbar.
Following the interval, Tiago Santos came dangerously close to taking Lille ahead with a sweeping drive that narrowly missed the far bottom corner, while Angel Gomes curled a long-range attempt that went just wide of the mark.
Emiliano Martinez comes in clutch
Aston Villa players celebrate with Emiliano Martinez. Photo/ Sky Sports
Duran came agonizingly close to winning it for Villa with seconds left in extra time. The Colombian international met a fantastic Morgan Rogers cross with a shot that Chevalier well stopped at his near post.
That prepared the field for the contentious shootout, which Martinez dominated. Bailey blocked Villa’s fourth attempt to force a sudden-death match, but Luiz maintained composure to stop Martinez’s fifth, and Martinez’s save of Andre sealed the victory in the limelight, guaranteeing that English football will have a player in the final four of Europe’s three championships.
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