WORLD CUP hero Emiliano Martinez has returned to Aston Villa with a big smile – despite facing a grilling over his behaviour with boss Unai Emery.
The goalkeeper, whose saves helped Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties to win the trophy on December 18, has been given time off to celebrate the triumph.
VillaTVEmiliano Martinez was all smiles on his return to Aston Villa training[/caption]
PAThe goalie’s antics after the World Cup triumph led to huge criticism[/caption]
The 30-year-old returned to his homeland with his team-mates to continue the party after the success in Qatar.
However, his antics back in Buenos Aires have sparked controversy after he goaded France’s Kylian Mbappe by holding a baby doll with the star’s face on it during the victory parade.
That came after the former Arsenal ace’s obscene gesture after being awarded the Golden Glove for the tournament’s best keeper.
Emery was asked about the actions of Martinez afterwards, and he confirmed that he would ask the stopper to “control his emotions” from now on.
The Villa manager said: “I want to speak with him when he will come here next week but I am thinking more about his performance and his win, than his celebration.
“The celebration is for the supporters, with really big emotions. It’s not really a good moment as a coach to identify why.
“I prefer to be focused on how he performed and how he is going to win with us afterwards. I am going to speak with him because I want to control him about that as well – his emotions.
“We have to have values, we have to focus on behaviour when we are together and with the opposition players.
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“We can speak in 90 per cent of the cases about very good things, and be very proud of him, for his performance, for his win. It is about more than small details like celebrations.”
That led to some reports in Spain claiming that Emery wanted to sell Martinez, who was labelled the “biggest s*** in football” by French defender Adil Rami, in January.
The South American was also labelled “stupid” by Crystal Palace’s French boss Patrick Vieira.
However, none of that seems to be getting Martinez down after the club shared a clip of him this morning smiling and waving on his return to Villa training, with the ace saying to the camera: “All good mate. Back to the cold weather.”
Martinez missed Villa’s Boxing Day game with Liverpool, which they lost 3-1, but could return to the side for the trip to Tottenham on New Year’s Day.