After Argentina’s World Cup victory, their goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez hit the headlines for his rather over-the-top celebrations, where he was seen with a cut out of Kylian Mbappe’s face on a baby doll.
It was a rather strange decision from Martinez, who had Mbappe stick three goals past him in the final, including a penalty in the shootout.
Why is Messi letting Martinez mock & humiliate Mbappe like this? They’re teammates at PSG, just so weird & graceless. pic.twitter.com/btx0KDbs2J
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 21, 2022
Speaking to the media earlier ahead of Crystal Palace’s Boxing Day match against Fulham, Eagles manager Patrick Vieira gave his thoughts on the Aston Villa goalkeeper’s behaviour.
“I think some of the photos I saw of Martinez take away what Argentina achieved at the World Cup, they didn’t need that from Martinez.
“Obviously you can’t control people’s emotions, but it was a stupid decision from Martinez to do what he did.”
Martinez also caused controversy when he received his Golden Glove award after the final, when he produced a rather unnecessary gesture with the trophy in front of some rather bemused-looking Qatari officials.
Trending: Emiliano Martinez celebrates golden glove with lewd celebration pic.twitter.com/Hp6xbG0wyq
— Malawi24 (@Malawi24) December 18, 2022
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Martinez revealed a couple of days ago that the gesture was in fact aimed at the French supporters who the goalkeeper claimed “were booing him all match”, so the 30-year old will feel he has certainly won his personal battle against the Les Bleus faithful, even though his actions brought plenty of criticism from the footballing world.