Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez was left furious after their 4-1 defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday night, taking out his anger on the home supporters as he left the pitch.
There’s never much love lost between Arsenal fans and their former goalkeeper Emi Martinez when he returns to the Emirates with Aston Villa, and that was the case again on Tuesday night.
For the first 45 minutes, Martinez wasted as much time as he possibly could, a deliberate tactic to frustrate the home side and their supporters. It’s far from the first time he’s done it, and it’s unlikely to be the last.
But that just made it sweeter for the home support when Arsenal ran riot in the second half, finding Martinez’s net four times to come out 4-1 winners.
The crowd were merciless, chanting “Emi, what’s the score?”, “David Raya, he’s better than you”, and “you’re just a s**t David Raya” at the Argentine goalkeeper as the game went on.
One ball boy even got involved, refusing to walk over to Martinez to return the ball at 2-0, and dropping it at the goalkeeper’s feet when he arrived. It was certainly amusing to the fans to see the 33-year-old suddenly so keen to get the ball back in play quickly.
Perhaps that all led to Martinez reaching his breaking point afterwards, as fan footage showed him angrily gesticulating at the Arsenal fans and having to be held back by stadium security to prevent the situation from escalating.
Of course, the outburst just made things even more embarrassing for the experienced goalkeeper. With the way he taunts opponents when things are going well, you’d think he’d be a bit more understanding when the shoe is on the other foot.