Aston Villa’s goalkeeper, Emi Martinez, has revealed that the “chaos” tactic he uses for penalties came from Argentina team-mate Lionel Messi.
The approach reached its zenith in Argentina’s triumphant World Cup run, both in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands and, most famously, the dramatic final against France.
But the penalty tactic first rose to fame when Cristiano Ronaldo elected not to take one for Manchester United against Villa back in September 2021.
Bruno Fernandes stepped up and missed, causing Martinez to jeer the home supporters with a now infamous provocative dance.
Chaos
Speaking about that incident on Ian Wright’s Behind The Game series on YouTube, the World Cup-winning ‘keeper explained: “I saw Ronaldo disappointed for not taking it, and I thought there is tension here. I said ‘come on, you take it now’.
“He [Ronaldo] doesn’t want to shoot. I said to [Edinson] Cavani ‘why is Ronaldo not shooting?’ It’s not even trash-talk.
“I create chaos. It was the 92nd minute of the game, I have to distract him in some way because they’ve got everything to win.”
“Bruno, he didn’t miss a pen for 25 pens or something.
“Then I asked Messi and he said when you move all around the place like that, they don’t like it. I was dancing not because I want to dance.
“I never practised that. Though I don’t know how to do it now, that just came out in the moment.
“The strikers, they said ‘we pick a spot’, and the quality they’ve got they can put the ball in the spot.
“So if you’re moving around so you create chaos, actually we see different spots.
“Messi said that to me. So it’s harder. When you don’t move, pick a spot, that’s it.”
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Emi Martinez applied a similar tactic in Lusail, helping him and Messi to their first World Cup, and also his own FIFA’s The Best Goalkeeper award for his displays across the tournament.
It will likely be the last time we see such acts on international football’s biggest stage, though, after the International Football Association Board (IFAB) controversially introduced more stringent laws on goalkeeper tactics during shootouts for future tournaments.
