Aston Villa’s visit to Lille tonight will have a special taste for French fans, who’ll get to see Emiliano Martínez again.
Still carrying bitter feelings about the 2022 World Cup final, the supporters are expected to him as a public an enemy on the pitch, and the local media has been hyping that story up.
Foot Mercato is one of those with a story about the Aston Villa goalkeeper, claiming he’s ‘going to live through hell in Lille’.
The website features some quotes from Quentin, the vice-president of Dogues du Pas-de-Calais group, talking about the pressure Martinez is about to face.
“There were already 1,300 of us last Thursday. We were told that we were the only ones to be heard on TV. As for Martinez, he was treated to whistles and insulting chants every time he touched the ball. At home, with 48,000 Lille fans, he’s going to get it in the face, he’s going to get booed, and then the insults will most certainly fly. He’s going to go through an ordeal.”
The outlet then gathers several interviews from people around Lille who’ve been highlighting the atmosphere they’re expecting, all to scare Aston Villa and their star.
As outlet Jeunes Footeux features a story about the same subject, they come up with a strange conclusion of what Martinez will have to face at Lille.
‘Emiliano Martinez, who was also brilliant a few days earlier at Arsenal, will be doing his utmost to hurt LOSC and therefore French football this Thursday with Aston Villa. But the Lille fans, who had already titillated him in the first leg, have warned him: he will get the welcome he deserves in Lille on Thursday evening! For that reason alone, the whole of France will be behind Paulo Fonseca’s men, urging them on to achieve a magnificent feat against the Premier League’s fourth-placed team. Come on lads, we believe in you!”‘
What the French media probably need to understand is that Martinez will be loving it all.
He’s born in raised in Argentina, grown at football stadiums that have stands so close to the pitch he could hear every voice behind him in his early games. After going through all that and then winning the Copa America and World Cup, it’s quite unlikely he’ll feel threatened in Lille.
