Even after a week of Argentina’s victory over France in the 2022 World Cup final, the animosity between the players of both camps refuses to subside. And the man at the center of it all is Argentina’s shot-stopper Emiliano Martinez, whose post-win antics have put him right in the line of fire. While other football personalities have criticized Martinez for his endless mockery of France’s Kylian Mbappé, his Argentine cohorts have been quick to defend him.
A feud recently broke out between 2018 World Cup winner Adil Rami and Argentina’s Angel Di Maria, after the former declared on an Instagram story, “The biggest son of a (b****) in football. The most hated man,” said The Daily Mail.
Di Maria would respond to this with: ‘El Dibu (Martinez) is the best goalkeeper in the world. Go cry somewhere else.” Rami would hit back on Twitter where he posted ‘Can you teach me?’ which shows four photos of Di Maria crying with the captions: “If you lose,” “when you win,” “when you leave a club,” “when you see this tweet.”
A feud recently broke out between 2018 World Cup winner Adil Rami and Argentina’s Angel Di Maria, after the former declared on an Instagram story, “The biggest son of a (b****) in football. The most hated man,” according to The Daily Mail. (Credit: Adil Rami/Instagram)
Martinez would receive more support from teammates Leandro Paredes and Germany’s Pezzella, with Paredes saying, “Now say it without crying.” Rami and Pezzella add: ‘Get out of here’, referring to captain Lionel Messi’s words to Dutchman Wout Weghorst after the quarter-final. between the two teams.
A few days ago, Scottish player Graeme Souness criticized Martinez’s gesture after receiving the Golden Glove trophy. The Argentine goalkeeper placed the trophy, a giant golden hand, against his crotch and waved it emphatically above his head during the post-match festivities.
“I can accept those antics, to a point. But what we should talk about more is the rude gesture he made after accepting his trophy for best goalkeeper of the tournament. Are there really people who think this is funny? Martinez embarrassed himself and embarrassed his country. He looked like a vulgar clown. If that’s what he wants to be remembered for, God help us,’ he said.
“This is detracting from Argentina’s success in a way,” said Patrick Vieira, who won the 1998 World Cup with France and is the manager of Crystal Palace. “I don’t think they really needed that. You can’t control people’s emotional decisions sometimes. But that was a stupid decision, I think, on Martinez’s part to do that. I was really disappointed,” he added.