In the second leg of the Europa League top 8 knockout round in the early morning of Friday (19th), Beijing time, there was a very rare scene in the game between Lille and Aston Villa! Aston Villa goalkeeper Damian Martinez got the second yellow card of the game in the 12-yard penalty stage, but Martinez was not driven out of the game, continued to guard the goal and saved a decisive 12-yard penalty, leading Aston Villa to advance to the top 4 of the UEFA Cup, and will compete with Olympiacos in the semifinals for the final qualification.
Aston Villa led 2-1 in the first leg, facing a frenzied attacking Lille in this game, and was hit by a long-range shot from Ages in the 15th minute of the game, and then headed in by Andre in the 67th minute from a corner, and the aggregate score fell behind 2-3 on aggregate. Aston Villa came out in full force late in the game, and three minutes before the end of the game, Lille's back line made a mistake, and in the confusion, Cass scored from distance to make the aggregate score 3-3. In overtime, the two sides had no record and had to shoot 12 yards from each other to decide the winner.
The 12-yard penalty has always been the stage for Aston Villa goalkeeper Martinez, and after helping Argentina win the trophy in the 2022 World Cup final, he offended the French fans with his over-the-top celebrations. Martinez became the protagonist again in this game, saving Bentaleb's shot in the first round, and then turned to provoke the French fans, and was shown a yellow card by the referee; because Martinez had already received a yellow card for delaying time in the first half of the game, just when fans all over the world thought that Martinez would be expelled for accumulating two yellows, the referee actually let Martinez continue to play.
Originally, according to Article 10 of the FIFA Council (IFAB) regulations, all yellow cards within the legal time (120 minutes) of the match will be "cleared" before the 12-yard penalty is fired, so Martinez's yellow card in the first half will not be counted in the 12-yard penalty phase. The Argentina international did not have to be expelled, and in the end, he saved Andre in the decisive fifth round to save two penalties to lead Aston Villa to a penalty shoot-out to win 4-3.
Martinez was booed by the French fans at home, and after the penalty shoot-out of 12 yards, he also turned to the French fans again to dance back, and Litan criticized: "I don't want to waste time talking about Martinez, his attitude is not that of a top athlete". Aston Villa manager Unai Emery supported his favourite: "Before the game you asked me what the French fans would do with him, you see. Martinez has a lot of character, but he's experienced and knows how to control himself."