Posted by Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor defended Emiliano Martinez’s theatrics during Argentina’s victory over France in the World Cup final.
Martinez’s heroics in the penalty shootouts against the Netherlands and France helped him win the title of best goalkeeper of the tournament.
In the quarterfinal shootout against the Netherlands, he stopped two penalties, and in the championship game, he stopped one from France.
Aurelien Tchouameni was successfully sidetracked by him before the teenage player missed his penalty kick.
Since then, the goalie has been under fire for both his behavior and for making fun of Kylian Mbappe during Argentina’s World Cup victory celebrations.
Agbonlahor, though, is of the opinion that the 30-year-old Aston Villa goalkeeper is completely innocent.
“If I were Argentine or if I were him, I wouldn’t care less,” Agbonlahor said in a statement to Football Insider. “People are not going to remember his behavior in a month.”
“They’ll remember that Argentina won the World Cup again. Perform your best. He didn’t mess with the penalty spot or rupture the ball, after all.