Aston Villa coach Unai Emery spoke about Emiliano Martínez, calling him the best goalkeeper in the world.

Emiliano Martínez made two saves for Aston Villa in the penalty shootout against Lille in the Europa League and became the star of the match. Aston Villa coach Unai Emery spoke at a press conference on Friday about Martínez. Here is what he had to say:

“He is being successful with Argentina. He is being successful, progressively getting better here with Aston Villa and individually, he’s being successful because he’s saving a lot of matches as a goalkeeper.

“Of course he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world. The first, the second, the third? For me, the best.”

Unai Emery on Emi Martínez: "For me, the best." 👑

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 20, 2024

Seven out of the ten Argentine players qualified for the next round of the Europa League.

Joaquín Correa and Leandro Balerdi’s Marseille advanced to the semifinals after defeating Nicolás Otamendi and Ángel Di María’s Benfica On penalty kicks. The aggregate was 2-2 and the French team won 4-2 in the shootout. While Di María missed his penalty, Otamendi, Correa and Balerdi converted from the spot.

Juan Musso’s Atalanta moved to the semifinals as they beat Alexis Mac Allister’s Liverpool 3-1 on aggregate. Both Argentines played the full 90 minutes In both legs.

Newly crowned Bundesliga champions Exequiel Palacios and Bayer Leverkusen defeated West Ham 3-1 on aggregate and qualified for the next round. The former River Plate man played the full 90 minutes in both legs.

Paulo Dybala and Leandro Paredes’ AS Roma advanced to the semifinals after defeating Milan 3-1 on aggregate. Dybala scored his team’s second goal in the second leg.

There will be at least one Argentine player per team in the Europa League semifinals as these are the matchups:

Marseille (Joaquín Correa and Leandro Balerdi) vs. Atalanta (Juan Musso and José Luis Palomino)

Bayer Leverkusen (Exequiel Palacios) vs. AS Roma (Paulo Dybala and Leandro Paredes)

Emiliano Martínez saved two penalty kicks in the penalty shootout for Aston Villa in their win vs. Lille in the Conference League.

Martínez did just as he did for Argentina during the 2021 Copa America, the quarter finals and the final of the World Cup. The Argentine kept out two penalty kicks for Aston Villa.

In their quarter final match against Lille in France, Martínez was getting whistled by the fans and with the tie at 3-3 on aggregate, the match went to penalty kicks. Martínez saved the first kick.

He was booked during the game and was booked during the penalty shootout but with both teams having scored three penalty kicks each, the Argentine saved Benjamin Andre’s penalty kick, the last one of the shootout and Aston Villa made the semi finals of the Conference League.

Aston Villa will play Olympiacos in the semi finals.

Emiliano Martínez talking about Aston Villa making the semi finals of the Conference League!pic.twitter.com/UKhHkR7tQ4

— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) April 18, 2024

Nicolás González scored in extra time for Fiorentina in their 2-0 win vs. Viktoria Plzen

González played 98 minutes for Fiorentina with the match going to extra time. At 0-0 and in extra time, the ball fell to the Argentine and he scored to give Fiorentina the 1-0 lead.

Lucas Beltrán also started the match with Lucas Martínez Quarta starting on the bench but he was substituted into the match. Fiorentina will play Club Brugge in the semi finals of the Conference League.