Former Arsenal man Emiliano Martinez delivers unbelievable performance in Copa America as earns Lionel Messi's full praise

Emiliano Martinez has become Argentina’s hero as he saved three penalties during their shootout win over Colombia in the Copa America semi-final. The Aston Villa stopper saved from Davinson Sanchez, Yerry Mina and Edwin Cardona, assisted by a number of perfectly applied distraction techniques. “I'm speechless,” Martinez said post-match. “They took us to penalties and that's a question of luck, today it was my turn for glory.” Arsenal opted to sell the 28-year-old, instead keeping Bernd Leno as his No.1, despite some impressive performances at the end of the 2019/20 campaign. Head coach Mikel Arteta made the difficult decision to recall Leno after his recovery from injury, paving the way for Martinez to join Villa. And Lionel Messi, who created Argentina’s first goal, described Martinez as a “phenomenon” thanks to his heroics in the shootout. "We have Emi, who is a phenomenon," said Messi, who scored from 12 yards himself. "We trusted him. We achieved the goal of being able to play all the games and now we are going to the final."

Emiliano Martinez has been the best thing in the Argentina NT soo far pic.twitter.com/sL1ZbH2uH7

— Gyata_Shoa🇬🇭💉 (@thatEsselguy) July 7, 2021

Argentina are now in the Copa America final and are set to face Brazil on Sunday, July 11, at Maracanã. Source - Mirror Join us on Telegram!/ Follow us on Twitter!

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