Emiliano Martínez commented on Virgil van Dijk and Emiliano Martínez’s penalty kicks at the World Cup.

Martínez made two penalty kick saves against the Netherlands at the World Cup, saved one and had one which was missed against him versus France in the World Cup final. The best goalkeeper in the world spoke to ESPN about the Argentina national team, the World Cup and using a psychologist during the tournament. He also commented on van Dijk and Tchouaméni taking their penalty kicks. Here is what he had to say:

“I had seen three finals that Van Dijk had kicked to the left.

“There’s a final at Wembley that stuck in my mind, because I watch a lot of football, that Kepa stood there as if he were fooling him and leaving him the whole goal free and he still hit it to that side. And he put it in and looked at the goalkeeper.

“In the three shots he kicked there, they had won. I said: ‘I’ll stay calm and I’m going to die there’.

“If I save two and my teammates score two, we have an 80% chance of winning.”

When talking about Aurélien Tchouaméni’s penalty:

“Look at this kid’s face, tell me he’s not nervous. He was dead. I said: ‘if he misses, we are champions’.

“I practiced it with my psychologist: if he saved one, I made life impossible for the next one.

“If he went to the goal, I would also save it.”

Emiliano Martínez spoke about this Argentina team’s place in history, winning the World Cup and using a psychologist.

Martínez has won everything there is to win with the Argentina national team. He won the Copa America while also being named as the best goalkeeper, he won the Finalissima and won the biggest prize there is to win which is the World Cup.

The Argentine was also named the best goalkeeper at the World Cup to continue to cement his legacy in Argentine football. Martínez spoke to ESPN about the current Argentina team’s place in history. Here is what he had to say:

“I want to win one more Copa America and say: ‘this team is going to be the best in history.

What I enjoyed the most and I still enjoy it every day and when I die I will enjoy it too, is that we have one more star in the team.

“It is not only ‘ah, I won the Cup’ but also ‘I generated this for the next generation’. They are going to say Argentina has 3 stars and not this generation won the World Cup.

“We generated a standard for the next generation to win the fourth, because in the end, football in Argentina is union, it is passion”.

He also commented on the World Cup and speaking to his psychologist after losing to Saudi Arabia in the first match:

“I used my psychologist a lot those three days, after Saudi Arabia. I told him: ‘Look, I think that if I lose to Mexico, I’m going home, it’s killing me’. I would go to sleep and sometimes I would wake up and say: ‘If I lose to Mexico, I’m going home’.

“I was in the room alone… I set up my room for a month. I put pictures of my kids, their favorite dolls, everything. I took the PlayStation, I set it up like at home and I said ‘I can’t go to Argentina in 10 days, it must be devastating’.

“I have the World Cup in my studio, where I play and have my meetings.

“It is upstairs, and I have it with lights. Sometimes I go in at night and it’s elevated and with light blue lights, I look at it and smile.”

Dibu also spoke about his performance in the World Cup final:

“Against France I saved badly, they came at me three times and they were three goals. The one against Mbappé, I was in a bad position, I touched it and it beat me.

“I didn’t feel I saved well in that final. They see the final save or the penalties, but for me I didn’t save well.”

Argentina’s number one goalkeeper commented on his team mates:

“I know the virtue of Cuti (Cristian Romero) and Ota (Nicolás Otamendi). Either the ball passes or the player passes, not both. That gives me life.

“In the final against France, Cuti went with both feet to Mbappé, I grabbed him by the shirt at halftime and told him: ‘if you get kicked out, I’ll beat you up after the game’.

“I have to tell Cuti to please stop hitting. He plays like that. But they are impressive.”

Paulo Gazzaniga helped Girona to a 4-2 win vs. Barcelona and they now lead La Liga.

Gazzaniga helped Girona to another win, this time against Barcelona, ensuring that they lead the league. The 31 year old has kept four clean sheets in La Liga this season, letting in 20 goals in 16 matches.

He has guarded Girona’s goal and helped them reach 41 points, two ahead of Real Madrid and seven ahead of Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid. Girona have not lost a league match since September and Gazzaniga has not allowed more than three goals in a match and allowed it only twice.

Paulo Dybala was substituted out injured for AS Roma vs. Fiorentina.

Dybala started AS Roma’s 1-1 draw vs. Fiorentina but was substituted out. The 30 year old had an assist on AS Roma’s goal but the Serie A Player of the Month was replaced shorter after the goal.

With AS Roma leading 1-0, Dybala went to tackle Arthur and appeared to have injured himself as he was tackling him. According to Sky Sport, Dybala felt pain in his right thigh flexor muscle.

He was not the only Argentine who made headlines in the match, Lucas Martínez Quarta scored for Fiorentina in the draw.