Aston Villa booked their place in the Europa League semi-finals in dramatic fashion by winning a drama-filled penalty shootout, where goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez received his second yellow card but was not sent off.
Martinez had been walking a tightrope from the 28th minute when he received his first booking for time-wasting, with Villa already 1-0 down on the night and pegged back to 2-2 on aggregate following Lille midfielder Yusuf Yazici’s marvellous opener.
Lille captain Benjamin Andre then doubled the home side’s lead to put them in front in the tie, but Villa left-back Matty Cash levelled the scores in the dying minutes to send the match to extra-time and penalties.
Martinez wasted no time in launching the mind games, picking the ball up from the spot after Nabil Bentaleb, the former Tottenham midfielder, had placed it. It earned himself a stern telling off from Slovakian referee Ivan Kruzliak.
Martinez was then given a second telling off when he celebrated saving Bentaleb’s penalty by putting his finger to his lips in an effort to silence the home fans, who had booed him throughout, but Kruzliak’s patience ran out when Martinez was seen gesturing on the edge of the area. The referee ran over to the Argentine and showed him a yellow card for the second time in the match, but did not produce a red card.
Villa captain Douglas Luiz sprinted from the halfway line to confront Kruzliak, equally as unaware of the rules as the rest of the stadium. But unbeknownst to him, Martinez had not been sent off because bookings from regular time or extra-time are not carried over into a shootout.
Law 10 of the International Football Association Board’s laws of the game states: “Warnings and cautions issued during the match (including during extra-time) are not carried forward into kicks from the penalty mark (KFPM). A player who receives a yellow card during both the match and the KFPM is not sent off. The two separate cautions are reported to the appropriate authorities.”
As it was, Martinez remained on the pitch to prove himself the hero yet again as he saved for the second time to deny Ande and send Villa through to the last four.
Speaking immediately after his shootout heroics, Martinez said: “I’ve just got a bad reputation for time wasting because the other goalie was doing exactly the same and I get booked after 30 minutes and we are losing the game so I don’t know what the ref wants from me.
“There was no ball on the penalty spot and I’m asking the ball boy for a ball and I get booked.
“I just don’t understand the rules.
“It’s been a hell of a ride my whole career. I’m always a believer and a hard worker and it was my destiny to win here again.”
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