On the morning of July 5, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez once again rescued Messi and the Argentina team with 2 saves in the penalty shootout in the Copa America 2024 quarter-final against Ecuador, thereby setting a ‘huge’ record for saving 11m penalties.
According to statistics, Emiliano Martinez has faced a total of 24 penalties for the Argentina national team . The 31-year-old goalkeeper, who currently plays for Aston Villa , has lost 12 penalties, but has saved 9, 2 missed and 1 on target. This probability helps Emiliano Martinez achieve a penalty saving and saving rate of up to 50%, saving Messi and the Argentina national team in many important matches.
At Copa America 2021, Emiliano Martinez set a record by saving 3 penalties in the penalty shootout in the semi-final against Colombia, helping Argentina win 3-2 (1-1 draw in regulation time), reaching the final to beat Brazil 1-0 to win the championship.
At the 2022 World Cup, this goalkeeper continued to be the savior on the 11m mark in the quarter-final win over the Netherlands with a score of 4-3 (2-2 draw in regular time). Notably, in the final win over France with a score of 4-2 (3-3 draw in regular time), he helped Messi win the first World Cup championship in his career and achieve all the desired results.
Copa America 2024 is taking place in the United States, once again Emiliano Martinez became the hero. This time he also saved Messi from criticism when the famous player missed the first 11m penalty in a Panenka style that fooled goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez, but hit the crossbar, in the penalty shootout against Ecuador.
Emiliano Martinez made amends for Messi when he blocked two consecutive penalties from Ecuador, taken by Mena and Minda. This helped the home team regain confidence, allowing Alvarez, Mac Allister, Montiel and Otamendi to successfully take Argentina into the semi-finals.
Before that, Messi returned from injury, contributing to the opening goal 1-0 scored by center back Lisandro Martinez in the 36th minute. But in the extra minutes, Kevin Rodriguez managed to equalize 1-1 for the Ecuador team, bringing the match into a penalty shootout.
Having just returned from injury, Messi’s form was also very lackluster. He only had 32 touches of the ball in the whole match, the fewest in the official matches in which this famous player played the full 90 minutes for the Argentina team from the World Cup finals, qualifiers and Copa America, since 2011 until now.
Therefore, the image of Messi running to hug Emiliano Martinez to thank him said it all. The success in the career of this 37-year-old player clearly had a great contribution from familiar teammates such as goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and midfielder De Paul.
