Emi Martinez's penalty shootout mind games, hidden taunt and "despicable" blast

In a blockbuster World Cup final that was billed as Lionel Messi vs Kylian Mbappe, it was member of Argentina's supporting cast who made headlines of his own.

The Albiceleste and France were unable to be separated during an enthralling finale that was truly befitting of the occasion. Both Messi and Mbappe delivered on the biggest stage, Messi with a brace, Mbappe with a hat-trick, with extra-time unable to separate the sides.

That ensured that, for just the third time in history, the World Cup final would be decided by penalties. And for the second time in a matter of weeks, Emiliano Martinez proved why he has garnered a reputation as a shootout juggernaut.

The Aston Villa shot-stopper thwarted Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis to keep Argentina's World Cup dreams alive in the quarter-finals as they eventually got the better of the Netherlands after their bad-tempered clash.

Then he had enjoyed the theatre of it all, celebrating wildly in front of the Argentina fans as he danced after denying Berghuis before letting rip at Louis van Gaal when the shootout had finished.

"I heard Van Gaal saying, 'We've got an advantage in penalties. If we go to penalties we win,'" he said. "I think he needs to keep his mouth shut."

Pablo Zabaleta, while doing punditry on BBC, remarked: "Emi Martinez, a hero. We praise Messi, but Martinez is a hero. He is a bit crazy as well."

Such antics are nothing new to Martinez. In the Copa America semi-final against Colombia in 2021, a competition Argentina eventually won, he destroyed Yerry Mina as the Everton defender prepared to take a spot-kick with his verbal jousting.

"You're nervous, huh? I can tell you're nervous, I know where you're going to shoot" and "Watch and see how I'm gonna eat you up" were all thrown out from his goal-line before he then saved Mina's tame effort.

In the greatest World Cup final in modern history, Martinez had been unable to deny Mbappe's tour de force, the French phenom finding the net three times as he almost single-handedly dragged Les Bleus back from defeat.

But as extra time ticked past the 120th minute, Argentina again found themselves indebted to Martinez with the undoubted save of the tournament.

When Randal Kolo Muani was sent through on goal, the entire world held its breath, expecting that this was it and France had, miraculously, dug themselves out of an almighty hole to retain the World Cup. Yet, when Muani lashed goalwards, the imposing frame of Martinez sprang into action to deny him and keep Scaloni's side - and the apparent destiny of Messi - alive.

Having been beaten twice by Mbappe from the spot during the match (and a third time in the shootout) Martinez delved into his box of tricks to dethrone Didier Deschamps' side.

All four of France's spot-kick takers were treated to a spot of verbal jousting as they waited to take the biggest penalty of their career. And while Martinez's mind games didn't affect Mbappe, they certainly had the desired impact on Kingsley Coman.

The Bayern Munich winger looked nervous as he waited for Szymon Marciniak's whistle. He struck his penalty to Martinez's right-hand side, but the 30-year-old guessed the right way and smothered the ball to hand Argentina an early advantage.

Argentina's fans, who were in a giant swarm behind Martinez's goal, erupted. Their vociferous backing only went up a decibel when Paulo Dybala made the most of Martinez's save by scoring his own penalty to nudge Argentina into a 2-1 lead.

Buoyed by his save and Dybala's conversion, Martinez was full of swagger as Aurelien Tchouameni trudged forward to take France's third spot-kick.

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Martinez, sensed his opportunity, deciding to push the boundaries against Tchouameni, who knew he could now ill-afford to miss.

As the Real Madrid youngster ambled up to the mass of Argentina fans, Martinez rolled the ball away to his right; further delaying Tchouameni's spot-kick. Eventually, Tchouameni stuck his penalty in the same direction Martinez threw the ball, but dragged his effort wide of the target.

The master of mind games had struck again.

Martinez celebrated with a Conor McGregor-like shimmy as Tchouameni looked on in anguish. Both knew that moment was pivotal. Both knew that the Jules Rimet trophy was now on the brink of being taken back to Buenos Aires.

Marciniak did, eventually, reprimand Martinez for his antics - but the yellow card that the Aston Villa ace was issued was meaningless. The damage had already been done.

Muani kept his cool to rifle his spot-kick past Martinez, but everything hinged on Argentina now and, after three flawless penalties, Gonzalo Montiel calmly rolled his penalty into the right-hand corner for the South Americans' third world title.

An emotional Martinez, who had been jigging just minutes earlier, sank to his knees at the final whistle. Overcome with emotion, this was the crowning moment for a player who, up until two-and-a-half years ago, was a peripheral figure at Arsenal and a world away from featuring for his country, let alone playing a vital role in a World Cup final. He only made his international debut in 2021.

The fact that Martinez is the first World Cup winner in history to have played in League Two (or a fourth-tier equivalent) before triumphing on football's grandes stage speaks volumes; this is a player who had five loan spells in the Football League before making the most of an opportunity to deputise for Arsenal back in 2020.

Martinez deservedly took centre stage after the match. His national team boss, Lionel Scaloni, insisted that he had no doubts over the penalty shootout - as Martinez had already assured his teammates that he would save spot-kicks.

"Emi Martinez is a very positive guy and told his team-mates he was going to save some penalties," Scaloni revealed after the match.

But were his antics acceptable? Did they show a lack of class? Or was this a masterclass in s***housery and everyone would do the same? BBC pundit Gary Lineker cheekily quipped that it was the latter, but not everybody was happy with Martinez's mind games.

Roy Keane, analysing for ITV, slammed Martinez's behaviour. He did, however, concede that he believed Argentina did have the advantage before the shootout even started because of their goalkeeper.

"The games he was playing, we don't like to see that," said the Irishman. "But we always thought Argentina were favourites if it went to penalties because of him."

Chris Sutton too was unhappy with Martinez's antics, labelling them "despicable".

Gary Neville lauded Martinez's antics but admitted that the referee should have intervened earlier. He said: "He always seems to go the right way. He was messing with the France players' heads unbelievably to be fair, and the referee should have stamped it out.

"But this Argentina team will do anything to win."

Criticism is unlikely to phase Martinez, who was later coronated as the best goalkeeper of the tournament when he was awarded the coveted Golden Glove award. Minutes later, he had his hands on the grandest prize in international football.

"I have no words for it. I was calm during the penalty shootout and everything went as we wanted," Martinez said in reflection after the final. "All that I have dreamed of has been achieved."