If you didn’t know that Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez was very much a hero in Argentina, then we’ve got the article that’ll fix that.
Step up [Ole](https://www.ole.com.ar/internacional/dibu-martinez-homenajeado-aston-villa-frente-manchester-city_0_UUbQHnKrzJ.html), who cover the Aston Villa star today after being named as the FIFA Best goalkeeper again today and don’t hold back on their praise.
They explain that Aston Villa are planning to honour the goalkeeper’s latest award ahead of the upcoming clash with Manchester City but in reality, it will be ‘more than a celebration’.
Instead, it will be a recognition of a man who ‘embodies the spirit’ of Aston Villa and has ‘taken both his club and his country to the top’.
They say the goalkeeper is now a ‘global icon’ who symbolises fight, resilience and triumph all in one. In fact, according to them, Martínez has ‘changed the narrative’ of the club and helped to return the Villans to the football elite.
It’s explained that Aston Villa aren’t a top six club, but this has not stopped Martínez, who has instead found his voice and shines despite not playing for ‘one of the great teams’ in Europe who are ‘accustomed to winning’.
His influence for club and country is now huge and has helped him to forge a career that ‘few players are able to achieve’ according to Ole, who seem to think Aston Villa was a club languishing in obscurity with no history before the Argentine was signed from Arsenal.
Indeed, this piece, while obviously designed to wax lyrical about the Argentine goalkeeper and his latest success, does feel rather insulting to an English club steeped in history whose recent success isn’t built solely on Martínez’s performances between the sticks.