Aston Villa and Emi Martinez drawn to face familiar foe in Europa League
Emi Martinez will again run the gauntlet at Lille after Villa were drawn against the French club in the Europa League last-16.
The clubs will meet in a repeat of their infamous Conference League quarter-final tie from two years ago, which Villa won thanks to Martinez’s penalty shoot-out heroics.
That was despite the goalkeeper being shown two yellow cards during the second leg in France.
The second of those was during the shoot-out and Martinez, despite much confusion, remained on the pitch due to a little-known rule that yellow cards do not carry over at the end of extra-time.
Already a hugely unpopular figure in France thanks to his antics during the 2022 World Cup final, the Argentina international can expect a hostile welcome at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy when Villa make their return for the first leg of their last-16 tie on Thursday, March 12.
Unai Emery’s men then host the second leg a week later at Villa Park on March 19.
Friday’s draw for the knockout stages of the competition set out a potential path to the final, as Villa look to win their first major silverware since 1996.
Victory over Lille would set up a quarter-final tie against either Bologna or Roma, while Stuttgart, Porto, Nottingham Forest or Midtjylland are the possible semi-final opponents should Villa progress that far.
Emery’s team finished second in the group stage after winning seven out of eight matches, meaning they will play the second leg of every knockout tie at home.
Lille set-up next month’s rematch by overturning a second leg deficit to win their play-off round tie against Red Star Belgrade.
The French club, who finished 18th in the group stage after winning four and losing four of their matches, were beaten 1-0 at home in the first leg before winning 2-0 in Serbia on Thursday night, after extra time.
They will now seek revenge on Villa after Martinez denied them in dramatic circumstances.
Lille looked favourites to progress through the tie when they led 3-2 on aggregate but a Matty Cash equaliser in the 87th minute sent it to extra-time.
Martinez then saved from Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin Andre in the shoot-out to earn the Premier League club the victory.
The yellow card the keeper received did ultimately prove costly, as it resulted in his suspension from the first leg of Villa’s semi-final against Olympiacos.
Robin Olsen deputised in a 4-2 defeat, with Emery’s men then unable to overturn the deficit in Greece as they knocked out at the semi-final stage.
