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The teams of Argentina and Spain will meet this Sunday evening in the final of the 2026 World Cup at the “Metlife” stadium in New York.
The Green Rectangle will witness a number of football’s most famous stars such as Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal and Rodri.
But the task of stopping them falls on two of the tournament’s best goalkeepers, Emiliano Martinez and Unai Simon.
“I mentioned”AS newspaper“Emiliano Martinez has become one of the most important goalkeepers on the international scene since the 2022 World Cup finals, especially after his historic save from Randall Kolo Mwani’s solo effort in the final moments of extra time.
The Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper achieved this high status thanks to his outstanding level on the pitch and his great ability to take penalties.
Depot’s numbers, especially in big matches, inspire admiration and also strike fear into the heart of any competitor standing in front of him.
Ability to read the direction of free kicks
During his career with Arsenal and Getafe as well as Aston Villa, Martinez produced many memorable performances.
One of the most notable of these moments is what happened last season when Aston Villa, led by manager Unai Emery, went to a penalty shoot-out against Lille of France in the quarter-finals of the European Conference League, where Depot converted the decisive penalty to send his team through to the next round.
Emiliano Martinez’s numbers with Villa reflect his great skill in reading the direction of penalty kicks, with an average percentage of 18.25%. During his career in the English club, he received 27 penalty kicks, five of which he managed to take.
Of these five shots, he blocked four shots while jumping to the right, while he was only able to block one shot after jumping to the left.
Penalties with Argentina
Emiliano Martinez faced 25 penalty kicks for Argentina, 9 of which he was able to make without mistakes, and 13 of which went into his net, while the opposing players missed 3 other shots outside the goal.
Thus, the Argentinian goalkeeper has an impressive save rate of 36% of the penalties he takes, and the percentage rises to 48% if all the shots that do not end in a goal are taken into account, whether he takes them or wastes them.
Among his most notable historical moments was his brilliance in the penalty shootout against Colombia at the 2021 Copa America, in addition to the World Cup final against France in which he led his country to the world title.
On those occasions, Depot has shown that he has a great ability to psychologically influence penalty-takers, in addition to possessing a distinctive technique that helps him emerge victorious in such crucial situations.
