Emiliano Martinez has defended his crude celebration after landing the coveted World Cup Golden Glove award, insisting that he did it "because the French booed me".
Martinez, 30, played a pivotal role as Argentina triumphed over France in an epic final at Lusail Stadium on Sunday. Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe starred in a frenetic finale, the former with a brace and the latter with a hat-trick, but the two sides couldn't be separated, with the score tied at 3-3 after extra time.
Just as he did in the quarter-final triumph against Netherlands, Martinez excelled in the penalty shootout to inspire Argentina to victory. And the accolades kept on coming for the Aston Villa goalkeeper, who was crowned as the tournament's best goalkeeper after the final whistle.
Martinez raised eyebrows when he thrust his Golden Glove trophy to his groin after being presented with the award. But when he was quizzed on his celebration by La Red radio, Martinez simply said: “I did it because the French booed me. Pride does not work with me.”
Although Martinez was jeered by French fans, the Argentina ace had the last laugh after cementing his status as the masterclass of mind games in the penalty shootout.
After getting into Kingsley Coman's head, Martinez thwarted the Bayern Munich winger before tossing the ball away from Aurelien Tchouameni before his spot kick just moments later. Martinez's mischievous tactics paid dividends as Tchouameni pulled his penalty wide, leaving Argentina on the brink of victory.
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Martinez took centre stage after the match, but his controversial tactics in the shootout divided opinion. He was slammed by Roy Keane, who was analysing the game for ITV.
"The games he was playing, we don’t like to see that," the Irishman said of Martinez. "But we always thought Argentina were favourites if it went to penalties because of him."
But Keane's former Manchester United teammate, Gary Neville, who was also on punditry duty, insisted that it was down referee Szymon Marciniak to intervene and reprimand Martinez during the shootout.
"He always seems to go the right way," Neville said of the Villa star after the finale. "He was messing with the France players’ heads unbelievably, to be fair, and the referee should have stamped it out. But this Argentina team will do anything to win."
Martinez is unlikely to be too concerned with criticism after becoming a world champion. The emotional Argentina star said after the match: “We suffered a lot. We thought we were in control but they managed to come back. It was a very complicated game. Our destiny was to suffer. They had one last chance to win, luckily I was able to stop it with my foot.
"This is a moment I’ve always dreamed of living, I have no words for it. I left very young for England and I would like to dedicate this victory to my family.”
