Emiliano Martinez rose to fame at the end of the 2019-20 Premier League season. Since 2020, Martinez’s stock has gone only higher. He has achieved telling success as the undisputed number one of Argentina. Emi has also made the bad boy list of soccer fans and the media due to his questionable on and off-the-pitch shenanigans. One of them was his troll on Kylian Mbappe. Very recently the World Cup-winning goalie has talked about that instance.
Emi Martinez is a perfect example of a late bloomer. Goalkeepers, however, tend to get mature during their 30s, Martinez got his big break, when he was signed by Arsenal in 2012. The Argentine had next to no impact on the North London side. He was sent six different loans during his 9-year tenure at Arsenal. Bernd Leno’s injury proved to be the breakthrough moment in his career.
Martinez left the London giants for Villa Park and immediately showed his class. He became a regular fixture for his national team. Emi won Copa America in 2021. Then next proved to be dream come true for every Argentine, as they lifted the World Cup trophy after 36 years of wait. Martinez played a very crucial role in the triumph. He made a 120th-minute match-saving stop. Emi also denied two French penalties in the shootout.
His post-winning antics didn’t sit right with most soccer fans. The way Martinez trolled Kylian Mbappe after winning, was massively ‘classless’ according to a lot of fans. In the road parade in Argentina, Emi held a doll of a baby with Mbappe’s face on it. Maybe rightly enough, it didn’t impress the soccer fans.
Fans react as Emiliano Martinez talks about his banter on Kylian Mbappe
During the celebrations of the final win against Argentina, Emi said they would perform a “one-minute silence” for Mbappe. The reason is seemingly simple. A while ago the Frenchman said that European nations have much more chance to win the World Cup over Latin American teams like Argentina and Brazil. Martinez’s extensive banter after actually winning the World Cup was controversial, to say the least.
He talked about the extent of celebrations to GOAL. Emi said, “There’s nothing personal against Mbappe. I didn’t set out to hurt anyone. I respect him a lot. If people sing about him or Neymar, it’s because they are top players. After the final, I told him that it was a pleasure to play against him and that he almost won the match on his own,” to confirm that he has no malice in heart about the Frenchman.
Martinez cleared the air about the ‘one minute silence’ matter as well. He stated, “It’s a locker room thing. It should never have come out. When France beat us in 2018, I remember there were chants about Messi [involving N’Golo Kante]. Same thing, if a team beats Brazil, they’ll be singing about Neymar.” It is natural for opponent players and fans to make fun of the other team’s best player very often.
A subreddit post said how Martinez talked about this incident and there were quite a few interesting comments. One comment said, “Most people can’t take banter,” justifying Emi’s mockery towards Mbappe. One fan said that people get offended very easily and commented “People like to get offended even when the ‘offense’ is not for them,” to the context.
Another fan said, “Almost everyone who’s played sports has taken lots of banter,” talking about banters being perfectly normal. One comment took a dig at the offenders and said, “People in the comments still crying?” Conclusively whatever Martinez has said, makes a lot of sense. However, he didn’t talk about the doll he made with Mbappe’s face on it.
Source: www.sportsmanor.com
