Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is expecting another hostile night in Lille when the teams clash in the Europa League round of 16, first leg.
Martinez was public enemy number one two years ago when Villa visited the Stade Pierre-Mauroy with the home fans recalling the Argentine’s antics in the World Cup final penalty shoot-out against France in Qatar.
France missed two spot-kicks, one from Kingsley Coman saved by Martinez, whose mind games then prompted Aurelien Tchouameni to roll his effort wide as Argentina claimed the trophy.
That meant he was a target for the Lille fans in 2022 with the South American repeating his shoot-out heroics as Villa edged out Les Dogues on pens to advance to the semi-finals of the Conference League.
Ahead of this game, he told TyC Sports: “It’s going to be heated. I’ve already received messages and everything. The good thing is that my team will have less pressure because people will insult me.
“I have it completely under control. Against Lille last time, they blew my mind for 120 minutes. It’s normal.”
Villa return to France on a sticky run of form. One win in seven games has seen them exit the FA Cup while their bid to secure a Champions League spot for next season is also disintegrating. Unai Emery’s men have won just three league games this calendar year and have slipped to fourth in the table, just three points above sixth-placed Liverpool.
It may be winning the Europa League is their best chance of returning to Europe’s top table but, for that to happen, they need to get past a Lille side that are sixth in Ligue 1.
Bruno Genesio’s side struggled to reach this stage, losing the home leg of the play-off to Red Star Belgrade before a 2-0 victory in Serbia.
Team news for Lille v Aston Villa
Villa captain John McGinn has returned to training after missing 10 games due to a knee injury. He could be considered for a place on the bench. Youri Tielemans remains sidelined, as does Boubacar Kamara.
Matty Cash has a calf problem but is expected to be fit.
Marc-Aurele Caillard (elbow), Osame Sahraoui (groin), Hamza Igamane (ACL), Ethan Mbappe Lottin (thigh) and Ousmane Toure (knee) are all absent for Lille, whose attack will be spearheaded by veteran striker Olivier Giroud.
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