As Gonzalo Montiel scored the winning penalty that made Argentina World Cup champions over France, Emiliano Martínez fell to his knees.
Part of it was exhaustion. Part of it was disbelief. All of it was existential joy.
Martínez’s emotions swam in a sea of self-reflection. He couldn’t quite believe it. Their goalkeeper, who had made critical saves in the final — and throughout the tournament in Qatar — had done it. He was finally a World Cup winner. The Argentinian crowd roared inside Lusail Stadium and across the globe, some possibly chanting his loving nickname based on a cartoon back when he was a youth player. “Dibu! Dibu! Dibu!”
“I couldn’t have even dreamed of a World Cup like this one,” said an emotional Martínez right after the historic victory. “I don’t have words.”
On their return to Buenos Aires, a day which had been declared a national holiday by the government, approximately five million people crowded the city’s Obelisk monument to commemorate their champions. The scenes were overwhelming as the team was celebrated in the streets. Martínez, surrounded by teammates, dancing and chanting, banging drums and signing flags, giving back to a fanbase who witnessed his greatness, helping the country earn its third World Cup and the first since 1986.
The day was so hectic that their bus couldn’t even arrive at its destination because of the crowds surrounding the highways, roads and paths. A failure from a security perspective. In the end, Martínez and his teammates were forced to take helicopters away from the crowd.
Days later, Martínez traveled to Mar de Plata, where he was born and raised, and celebrated the victory with thousands of people, all of them jubilant for the arrival of their prodigal hero. “My dream was to bring this title to my city,” said the proud keeper as the crowd roared in the fan festival, an almost unbelievable ending to an almost implausible month.
As Argentina cheered the actual title, however, from Córdoba to Buenos Aires, Rosario and Mar de Plata (Martinez’s birthplace) and all over the world, Aston Villa fans joined them in jubilation. They had a unique bond because Martinez — the passionate, hard-working stopper who left Independiente for England when he was 18 in order to help his family — was also one of them.
“Villa fans are absolutely in love with Emi and have been ever since he walked through the door a little over two years ago now,” said Ashley Preece, head correspondent for Birmingham Mail and a beat reporter for the club. “It’s his endearing nature to be the best, how he’s battled back from where he was in his career previously and his will and drive to do anything to win. He’s living an absolute dream at the moment and long may that continue.”
But there is another factor that felt attractive to Cutler, eventually developed and brought out by him and the keeper. Once he convinced Dean Smith (Villa’s former manager) and club sporting director Johan Lange to bring Martínez to the club, Cutler’s top objective, before any ball was kicked, was to bring out his persona. Transmit Martínez the person to the goalkeeper.
“We wanted to bring his personality out to the pitch,” Cutler said. “Rather than being within him and not showing his personality, we were working a lot on pushing himself to the point where he’s not quite arrogant, but he’s confident to the point of arrogance on the pitch, where you can see that he’s confident. Not just feel it inside but showing it with mannerisms and the way you hold yourself.
“Big thing that we worked through the course of last year was really forcing that out. Shoulders back, chest forward, head up. Your leadership comes out through what you do, your presence and your character. Before [joining Aston Villa] he would go within himself, go in his shell and be frustrated by things that weren’t going right. I was trying to bring that out a little bit more. Don’t get frustrated inwards, get frustrated outwards. Help people, and he’s doing that far better now.”
