Topics: Aston Villa, Emiliano Martinez, Football, Lille, Unai Emery
Emiliano Martinez broke a rule during Aston Villa's penalty shootout win over Lille that was introduced directly because of his own behaviour in another match.
Unai Emery's side progressed to the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League with a dramatic 4-3 victory in a penalty shootout over Lille, after the tie had ended 3-3 following extra-time in France.
Martinez was shown two yellow cards in the quarter-final second leg but avoided being sent off because of a little-known rule.
The Villa goalkeeper, who was booked during normal time by Slovakian referee Ivan Kruzliak, received a second yellow in the shootout for shushing the home supporters after saving Lille's first penalty kick.
Advert
But despite being booked for a second time, he wasn't shown a red card.
That's because yellow cards reset at the start of a penalty shootout, meaning Martinez was able to stay on the pitch.
He would prove to be the hero for Villa, saving Lille's fifth spot-kick to seal victory for the visitors.
It has now emerged that Martinez broke a rule during the shootout that he was directly responsible for being introduced to football.
IFAB, the body that decides the laws of football, brought in a series of changes around penalty shootouts following Argentina's win over France in the World Cup final in Qatar.
During that shootout, Martinez used every trick in the book to put off his opponents, including throwing the ball away and touching the goalposts.
IFAB introduced stricter rules around what goalkeepers can do during a shootout, partly as a result of that match.
The changes to Law 14 state that "the defending goalkeeper must remain on the goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts, without touching the goalposts, crossbar or goal net, until the ball has been is kicked. The goalkeeper must not behave in a way that unfairly distracts the kicker, e.g. delay the taking of the kick or touch the goalposts, crossbar or goal net".
IFAB clarified that "the goalkeeper must not behave in a manner that fails to show respect for the game and the opponent, i.e. by unfairly distracting the kicker".
Martinez broke these rules during the shootout against Lille, picking the ball up ahead of Nabil Bentaleb's first penalty before being warned by the referee over his conduct.
His tactics paid off, however, with former Tottenham star Bentaleb missing his spot kick, with Martinez later going on to save Benjamin Andre's effort to seal victory for Villa.
