Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will miss the Europa Conference League semi-final first leg against Olympiacos. (More Football News)
The Argentina international saved two penalties in the 4-3 quarter-final shootout victory o🦂⛄ver Lille, but earned a yellow card for his trademark gamesmanship and baiting the home crowd.
That was his second of the▨ game, 🐟but he was not sent off as cards are not carried over into the shootout.
However, after also picking up a booking in the first leg against♛ Lille, he will now miss the semi-final first ꦦleg with the Greek side on May 2 for three yellows on the totting-up process.
The World Cup winner, who produced heroics against France in the 2022 final in Qatar, will be a big miss, with Unai Emery calling him the best goalkeeper in the world.
“To say something 𓃲about this is when he’s being successful individually and collectively with his club here at Aston Villa and his national team,” boss Una♐i Emery said.
“He’s being successful with Argentina, he’s being successful and progressively getting better here with Aston Villa.
“And i🧸ndividually he’s being successful because he’s🔥 saving a lot of matches as a goalkeeper.
“Of course, he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world – the first, the secoꦗnd, the third.
“For me, the best.”
Villa will have a quick turnaround after playing 120 minutes in northern France on Thur💙sday, with Bournemouth’s visit to Villa Park on Sunday.
Emery will assess his side after Saturday’s trai🌠ning session to see how they recover, with Nicolo Zaniolo going off injured in the first half against Lille.
Alex Moreno, Emiliano Buendia,♔ Jacob Ramsey, Tyrone Mings ﷽and Boubacar Kamara are definitely out.
“Alex Moreno, Mings, Buendia, Ramsey are♏ still unavailable,” Emery added. “I think no more. After the match we played yesterday, we will have to wait and then decide.”
