Aston Villa and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez appeared to be involved in an angry confrontation with riot police ahead of his nation’s game against Brazil.
The two teams took on each other in Rio de Janeiro in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Nicolas Otamendi’s goal in the 63rd minute ultimately proved to be the difference between the two teams as Argentina ran out as 1-0 winners.
Joelinton was shown a straight red card for Brazil in the 81st minute for a reaction to Rodrigo De Paul as Argentina saw out the win against 10 men. But it wasn’t just on the pitch that tensions were high.
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Kick-off was delayed after a clash between riot police and Argentina fans during the national anthems. The clash grabbed the attention of Martinez who ran to intervene.
The Villa goalkeeper was spotted appearing to palm a baton out of a police officer’s hand before angrily pointing and shouting at one officer. He was eventually led away by his teammates and pitch-side security.
“We saw how they were hitting people, as happened in the final of the Libertadores, again repressing people with sticks,” Lionel Messi told TyC Sports of the incident after the game. There were players who had families there.
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The Argentina captain took the decision to lead his team from the pitch during the 15-minute delay to proceedings. In explaining that decision he said: "Because it was the way to calm everything down.
"We saw how they were beating people, a misfortune could have happened. When everything calmed down we decided to go inside, ask how the relatives were, find out a little about everything, then we went out."
Following the 1-0 win, Martinez wrote on Instagram: “These matches are played with the heart.”
How important is Martinez to both Villa and Argentina? Tell us in the comments section
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