Emi Martinez spoke to GOAL about the World Cup Final and gave his thoughts on the save he made to deny France a winning goal in extra time.
In the 120th minute of the match, France’s Randal Kolo Muani was played through on goal to find himself one-on-one with Martinez, with the Argentine producing one of the all-time great saves to deny the striker and the keeper spoke about what he remembers from that moment.
WHAT A SAVE!!!!
Absolutely unreal from Emiliano Martinez.#BBCWorldCup #FifaWorldCup pic.twitter.com/QCC5HEIzkY
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 18, 2022
“It will definitely be the best save of my career. I couldn’t enjoy the save in the moment because it was a quick counterattack and we nearly scored.
“I just remember falling to my knees thinking he [Kolo Muani] should’ve scored!”
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Martinez played down what he thought of the save at the time because his Argentina side still had to endure a penalty shootout.
“Not for one minute was I thinking about the save I made because I was saying to myself that we haven’t won the game yet. It was only when I saw the media after the game and watched the replay that I realised what I’d done.
Emi Martinez really made the greatest save in football history 👑 pic.twitter.com/N2O4ohNOXG
— GOAL (@goal) March 24, 2023
“No one would remember if we lost that final, but now having that third star and making that last-minute save, people count it as a goal as if I scored it, but with a save.”