Emi Martinez’s latest troll spotted after Villa controversy against Juventus

Emiliano Martinez returned to his old ways on Wednesday night when he was spotted mocking Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio.

The Villains were held to a 0-0 draw at home as they welcomed the Serie A titans to the Champions League, despite the match being filled to the brim with chances. The biggest talking point, however, came when Morgan Rogers was controversially denied a late winner before the Holte End as it emerged Diego Carlos had fouled Di Gregorio.

The 31-year-old Brazilian centre-back was penalized for jumping the Italian goalkeeper as he tried to claim Youri Tielemans' free-kick, with Di Gregorio dropping the ball. Rogers then thought he had scored the winner by putting the ball into an empty net, but the goal was disallowed for foul play.

And after a fantastic display of his own, which saw Villa become the first team to keep a clean sheet in their first three home games in the Champions League since Chelsea in 1999, Martinez returned to his old ways of brutal taunting. After the whistle, the Argentine appeared to mock Di Gregorio by laughing and holding his side to imitate the goalkeeper as he fell to the ground after his earlier contact with Carlos.

This is also not the first time that Martinez has been incredibly animated when it comes to football. The 32-year-old made headlines during his penalty celebration during the 2022 World Cup final in Argentina, pushing the tournament's Golden Glove to his groin. Meanwhile, the goalkeeper was seen taunting Lille fans in April after saving two penalties in a thrilling shootout in the Europa Conference League.

Ollie Watkins also hit out at the controversial decision to disallow Rogers' goal, citing the way goalkeepers are protected from other players. He told TNT Sports: “I think it was soft. Maybe in the Premier League it is a goal. But in Europe the goalkeepers are protected a lot.”

“It's one of them. I thought we had scored. But to be honest, this match was 0-0. It's a positive result. The fans want to see a lot of goals and we do that too.” “But the most important thing was that we didn't lose tonight. Juventus are a huge team and they played well, but we kept them out and now we move on to the weekend.”

Martinez only had to work once in the first half, saving an effort from Francisco Conceicao. He was then called into action in the second half when Teun Koopmeiners pinged a ball to the back post and Conceicao headed the ball home from close range.

The keeper somehow managed to clear the ball off the goal line, keeping the score at 0-0. Villa have now managed to keep a clean sheet in each of their three home games against Italian teams following their draw against Juventus, previously beating Bologna and Inter.

Their only defeat in the 2024/25 Champions League came in the form of a 1-0 loss to Club Brugge earlier this month, with Hans Vanaken slamming home a penalty in the 52nd minute of the match. Despite their efforts, Villa currently sit in ninth place with three wins, one draw and one loss – although the table is so tight after five games that they are just one win behind Inter in second place.

Villa travel to the Red Bull Arena on December 10 to take on struggling RB Leipzig, hoping to move up the table. The German team has lost all five of their Champions League matches so far. Leipzig were defeated 2–1 by Atletico in their opening match of the tournament, before suffering a 3–2 defeat to ten-man Juventus in their next match.

A 1-0 defeat to Liverpool followed, before Celtic put them to the sword 3-1. Marco Rose also failed to take anything away from the club's most recent meeting with Inter on Tuesday, losing 1-0 after Castello Lukeba fired the ball into the back of his own net.