PARIS — Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans has urged Paris Saint-Germain supporters to “stick to football” if they taunt goalkeeper Emi Martínez during Wednesday’s Champions League quarterfinal clash after the Argentina No. 1 travelled to the French capital wearing a baseball cap highlighting his 2022 World Cup triumph against France.
Martínez has been an unpopular figure in France since helping Argentina win a penalty shootout in the World Cup final in Qatar. The 32-year-old’s antics during the shootout and after the game were deemed to be disrespectful by the French and he also angered Lille supporters by shushing them after helping Villa win a Conference League penalty shootout against the Ligue 1 side last season.
The former Arsenal keeper did little to ease tensions with French fans by boarding Villa’s flight to Paris with a cap bearing a cockerel — a French national emblem — alongside the Argentina flag and the four international trophies he has won with the world champions.
Dibu pic.twitter.com/7vbUy9kgNd
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 8, 2025
But midfielder Tielemans played down Martínez’s dress code and said the Villa players have no issue with the PSG fans targeting their goalkeeper — so long as they keep any criticism to football rivalry.
“It’s probably his style,” Tielemans said about Martínez’s cap. “All I can say is that he is ready for the game tomorrow and he hasn’t spoken anything differently. He’s looking forward to it.
“I don’t care [about the reception he gets]. Whatever happens with Emi, as long as it stays in football terms, I don’t mind.”
Villa coach Unai Emery, who spent two years at PSG before moving to England with Arsenal, said that rival fans must understand that Martínez is simply showing his passion for his club or country when he plays.
But Emery also said that Martínez is now maturing as a player and focusing more on his football.
“Emi is a very important player for us,” Emery said at his pre-match news conference in Paris. “He is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and he got the award for that in Paris [Martinez was named the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper in the French capital in 2022].
“I think he is mature and responsible and getting better at controlling his emotions. I worked with him at Arsenal too, before he arrived at Villa five or six years ago, but he is different and more mature now.
“He is a better player and better goalkeeper. My conversation with him is always the same — focus on football and manage it well, control your emotion and keep achieving.
“Football is for the fans to understand how players are playing against different teams and you have to be respectful, but they are defending their club and their countries.
“It’s only football. Their supporters will support them, ours will support us.”
Villa face PSG as underdogs after reaching the quarterfinals in their first appearance in the Champions League since 1983.
But after beating Bayern Munich and drawing with Juventus already in this season’s competition, Belgium midfielder Tielemans said Villa are confident of matching Ligue 1 champions PSG.
“We have a lot of players with experience and it’s about performing at the right moment,” Tielemans said. “We have played against big teams, had some really good results and the way we have adapted to get through is brilliant.
“We have confidence in Unai, knows what it takes to be at this stage of the competition. He has a plan in place and we are just waiting to get going tomorrow.
“We are happy it’s a good team to play. We’re just here to play games and win them. We are only playing tough teams now, so we have to be ready.
“We always want to do well, get to the latter stages and be fighting for trophies. We have had a dip, but we are coming out of it really well, so we hope to finish as strong as possible.”
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report
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