El Dibu Martínez repeats himself: sensational save at the end of the minute to save Aston Villa’s victory

No professional intervention Emiliano Martinez It will be as high as the one he starred in just over a year ago in the final of the World Cup in Qatar against Randal Kolo Muani. Since then, however, there have been several actions by the Argentine goalkeeper that have brought positive results for his team, such as the one against the French striker. This Saturday, the man from Mar del Plata did it again, saving Aston Villa’s 2-1 win against Fulham with a huge saving in the recovery of the duel corresponding to the 25th round of the Premier League.

Seconds after the clock had passed the 90-minute mark and when his team was clinging tooth and nail to victory, Martínez found himself face to face with Adama Traoré after a pass through the Brazilian Rodrigo Muniz. The Spaniard forcefully defined the near post, but the goalkeeper’s left foot prevented the second fall of his block.

That action of the prisoner trained at Independiente allowed Aston Villa to win at Craven Cottage something for which he had received ample credit in the first hour of play and for which he had to suffer in the last 30 minutes against an opponent who had won only one of his last five matches.

The front Ollie Watkins He was the great figure of the team led by Spaniard Unai Emery and the author of the brace. The first, in the opening chapter, taking advantage of a terrible start from Fulham’s throw-in and with a precise rebound that left German goalkeeper Bernd Leno with no chance. The second, in the complement, with a powerful right-footed cross that gave the finishing touch to a great collective maneuver which had as its penultimate touch a nice assist from the Belgian Youri Tielemans.

With these two goals Watkins reaches 13 in this edition of the Premier League and is only surpassed by the Norwegian Erling Haaland (16), of Manchester City; the Egyptian Mohamed Salah (15), from Liverpool, and the Englishman Dominic Solanke (14), from Bournemouth.

Lost by defeat, the local team did the rest in the final half hour, scored with a goal by Rodrigo Muniz and caressed the tie. Then Martínez came into action, first to neutralize a shot from Nigerian Alex Iwobi and then to make the tremendous save against Adama Traoré.

With this victory, Aston Villa has 49 points and has regained fourth place in the Premier League, the last one that guarantees qualification for the next edition of the Champions League, behind Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City. This was possible because Tottenham (Cristian Romero started and Giovani Lo Celso came on in the second half) fell 2-1 at home to Wolverhampton and found themselves with 47 points.