Emiliano Martinez played a huge role in Argentina’s FIFA World Cup 2022 winning campaign. Emi Martinez made some decisive stops throughout the whole tournament, especially in the knockout stages. The 30-year-old Aston Villa goalkeeper deservedly won the Golden Glove award for being the best goalkeeper in Qatar this year. Alongside Lionel Messi, Martinez was one of the key members of the World Cup-winning Argentine squad.
Emi Martínez: “Messi is best and my dream was to give Lio a title in Argentina. Obviously giving him Copa América and Finalissima, but my final dream as athlete was to give the best in the world the World Cup so there’s no doubt that he’s the greatest.” pic.twitter.com/cSGCu9ex2O
— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) December 22, 2022
Emi Martinez’s brilliant save against Australia during the dying minutes of the round of 16, and his penalty shootout heroics against the Netherlands played a huge role in getting Argentina to the finals. Although he conceded a Kylian Mbappe hat trick in the final, nevertheless, he still made some excellent saves.
Martinez saved Kingsley Coman’s shot in the penalty shootout, and his mind games forced Aurelien Tchouameni to miss his penalty shot. However, his most decisive save came in the final seconds of the extra time in the final, when saved a point-blank shot from Randal Kolo Muani.
Breaking down the numbers in Emi Martinez’s World Cup tattoo
Emi Martinez has a tattoo of the World Cup inscribed on the inside of his left calf. This was the same part that Martinez had used to deny Kolo Muani a last-second winner in the final. That extraordinary save had kept Argentina’s hopes of winning the World Cup alive. Thus, it seems fitting that Martinez got the tattoo on that part of his leg. Martinez recently took to Instagram and shared a picture of his latest tattoo.
The three sets of numbers on the top of the World Cup accompanied by three stars signify the years when Argentina won the FIFA World Cup. Argentina won its first World Cup in 1978, the second in 1986, and the third in 2022. At the bottom, there’s another set of numbers, ‘6.8.12.18’. While it has created some confusion among soccer fans, Argentina’s reserve goalkeeper, Geronimo Rulli, has cleared the confusion.
Rulli revealed in an interview that those numbers on Martinez’s tattoo were the jersey numbers of his Argentine teammates. German Pezzella (#6), Marcos Acuna (#8), Geronimo Rulli (#12), and Guido Rodriguez (#18) drink mate (Argentinean tea) together with Emi Martinez.
They together decided that if they won the golden trophy, they would get it tattooed. Therefore, Martinez got the kit numbers inscribed as they made the plan together.
What does the message in Spanish say?
Underneath the World Cup trophy tattoo on Martinez’s leg, there is also a line written in Spanish. The line translates to “May passion lead you to glory” in English. The former Arsenal keeper’s tattoo was made by Argentine tattoo artist, Juan Skunca.
Angel Di Maria’s tattoo of the World Cup 🥶 (IG/angeldimariajm) pic.twitter.com/xZiwKhEh9U
— GOAL (@goal) December 24, 2022
Emi Martinez is not the only Argentine player who got the trophy tattooed on himself. Angel Di Maria, the man who has scored in all the finals of the four international titles that he has won, recently showed his latest tattoo.
Di Maria’s tattoo also contains the three stars symbolizing Argentina’s three World Cup titles. There is also a glimpse of the Lusail Stadium, where the final was played. Lastly, there’s also the ‘Sun of May’ which appears on the famous Argentine flag.