Dibu Martínez: The moment he remembers most from the save of his life and how he would settle the boos against Messi

Par Lionel Scaloni is an exaggeration: “I don’t wake up every day thinking I’m world champion,” said the coach at the press conference. And, coming from him, it doesn’t sound like false modesty. However, for the rest of the members of La Scaloneta, especially the players, the situation seems to be different. And Dibu Martínez can testify to it: the goalkeeper of the Argentina national team dreams every day of his historic (unforgettable) cover against Kolo Muani in the Qatar 2022 final. There are those who remind you. A video on Instagram, a comment from a fan or a question from a journalist. The thing is, which in the last minute against France, was the salvation of his life.

“There will never be such a rescue ratifies Dibu. Perhaps I faced a better one, but that will remain for life, for the moment, the tension, the suffering… Because I felt the tension of my power plants because they had bound us; everyone’s stress It’s a time when the team is very hurt and what I appreciate the most is having been calm at the moment of impact. I didn’t run away out of desperation. I didn’t go back. I stayed where I had to stay, it’s what I save most mentally. I can catch 200 better balls, but… it will be the shortcut of my life”, Emiliano Martínez said in dialogue with ESPN.

“I didn’t say ‘I can’t believe what I saved.’ Do you know what I think about the most? In the silence that existed when the ball bounced one-on-one. The stadium was 80% Argentinian, when the ball was passed to Otamendi, there was silence for two seconds. Sometimes I go to sleep and listen to that silence What was in the stadium? That moment of pause, where the game stopped, you didn’t hear a thing, and then it continued. It’s a very difficult thing to explain,” continued the archer.

Emiliano Martínez said he was still surprised by the repercussions that Scaloneta’s title had in Qatar and also admitted that he likes having become a point of reference for the boys: “The first time I saw all of this was after the World Cup, when we went to Santiago and Buenos Aires. And that produced many things for me, tears in the anthem or desperation to play both games. Today the kids imitate you, people my age have never seen Argentina champion of the world. And now who will the boys take as their idol? A Lautaro Martínez, a Julián Álvarez for the holidays. The boys look for examples, I always say that the examples are the mother and the father. But in sport, As a child I used to watch Pato Abbondanzieri or Pelado Barthez, because they did different things. And today that they imitate the dance is very beautiful”.

The goalkeeper also referred to the ill-treatment Lionel Messi began to receive at Paris Saint-Germain and the boos that could be heard at the Parc dei Principi in the last round every time the 30th touched the ball: “If they boo him, I would take him to the Vila. I used to tell him ‘before they boo you, come here and we’ll feed you man’; there I barbecue every weekend, I tell people to just make flags, they have fun time, I cut salary, let’s what we can”.