Aston Villa remained the only English representative in Europe, mostly thanks to their goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
The world champion from the World Cup in Qatar and against Lille in the quarter-finals of the Conference League showed what a master of shots from 11 meters he is, he saved Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin Andre's penalties and took the former European champion to the semi-finals.
It was the Argentinian who was the actor of an interesting situation during the penalty-roulette, when he received a second yellow card from referee Ivan Kružljak at the "Pierre Moreau" stadium in Lille, and he was not sent off.
"Dibu" was first "yellowed" in the 39th minute of the game, and then after he saved Bentaleb's penalty when he provoked the fans of the home team. There were those who expected expulsion, but the rules are different...
And, they say that "the penalty shootout after overtime is not part of the game, but is seen as a separate event and a way to determine the winner", so Martinez's yellow card from the 39th minute was not counted during the penalty shootout.
Of course, if the Aston Villa goalkeeper had received a second yellow during the 120 minutes, he would have been sent off and would not have been able to defend penalties.
The club from "Vila Park" thus reached its first European semi-final since 1982, when it became the European champion.
Bonus video:
