Emiliano Martinez proves point-winner as Aston Villa’s defence shut out Juventus in Champions League draw | OneFootball

Aston Villa‘s defence was once again in fine form as they beat Juventus to a goalless draw in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Villa Park has not been a nice place to go to in the Champions League this season. In their first two games of the tournament, Aston Villa have beat both Bayern Munich and Bologna without conceding.

Bayern Munich left Villa Park with a 1-0 defeat, while Bologna were beaten 2-0. And defence has very much been the story of Villa’s Champions League campaign so far.

Going into matchweek five of the Champions League, only two teams in the competition had conceded fewer goals than Aston Villa. Club Brugge were the only side to breach the Villa net, in a 1-0 win last time out.

In that game, at the Jan Breydelstadion, Club Brugge had 13 shots with seven hitting the target, posting an Expected Goals tally of 1.38. And even they needed a penalty to beat Emiliano Martinez. Bayern Munich also had seven shots on target against Villa with an xG of 1.55. But they didn’t score.

And neither did Juventus. But Juventus provided less threat to the Villa goal than any other side in the Champions League this season. The Italian side had just eight shots in total, the fewest Villa have faced in the Champions League this season. Their two shots on target is also a low.

They weren’t really testing shots either. Five of Juventus’ eight shots came from outside the box, with none of those hitting the target.

The Bianconeri had just 0.44 xG, the lowest Aston Villa have faced in the Champions League this season, and 0.37 Expected Goals on Target — only Bologna had a lower xGOT (0.32) against Villa. And when Juventus did have their best opportunity to score, Martinez was on hand to keep them out.

The opportunity came in the second half, with a good header at the far post from Francisco Conceicao. It looked to be going into the back of the net, but Martinez somehow got a hand on the ball to claw it off the line. The shot was just a couple of inches from being ruled a goal.

In the Champions League this season, only five goalkeepers have prevented more goals than Martinez’s 2.62.

“I’m no longer surprised when he pulls off saves like this, Emi Martinez,” former England striker Eniola Aluko told TNT Sports.

“He is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, if not the best. He did this against Bayern as well, absolutely unbelievable saves, keeps Villa in it. This is just his level now.”

Alan Hutton added: “You’re right, that’s what we’ve come to expect from Emi Martinez, those big moments, huge saves.

“As a defence, as a team, you just grow in confidence when you know you’ve got somebody of that stature behind you that can pull something out of the bag. And that’s what he did.”

Martinez has now saved 24 of the 25 shots on target he has faced in the Champions League this season, a save percentage of 96%. Of goalkeepers to have faced 25+ shots on target in a single campaign, it’s the highest save percentage since Jens Lehmann in 2005-06 (100%).

The gameplan could have been perfect for Aston Villa too, as Morgan Rogers put the ball in the back of the net deep into second-half injury time. But it was eventually ruled out following a foul on the goalkeeper.

Nonetheless, Villa are in a solid position after matchweek five. The Villans sit ninth, only outside the automatic last 16 qualification spots on goals scored. They still have RB Leipzig, Monaco and Celtic to come in the Champions League.

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