Owing to superstition, before the season started Emiliano Martínez traded his No 1 shirt for the No 23. The number – a nod to the day his six-year-old son, Santi, was born – has proved a good omen, Martínez says, given he has won four trophies with Argentina, including a second Copa América this summer, wearing it.

Another superstition has been in play since his wife, Mandinha, gave him a pair of cuddly toy animals before the World Cup; Santi’s penguin and the giraffe of their three-year-old daughter, Ava, to carry as mascots in the dressing room, alongside a photo of his children. “I keep them with me everywhere I go,” says Martínez, whose shin pads are covered in images of his family and moments from his career. “It gives me a little bit of motivation before every game. She [Mandinha] said: ‘You are going to bring the golden cup home.’ I was 40 days away from the family, and I did it.”

For a split-second, the thought of Martínez checking he has a couple of cuddly toys in tow as part of his match-day ritual jars with his on-pitch persona, his image as – how else to say this? – the master of shithousery, often making himself public enemy No 1 in the process. At least that is the preconception many have of him. Martínez’s greatest moment was surely his sprawling save in the final seconds of extra time to deny Randal Kolo Muani and France victory in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar. Then came his stop in the penalty shootout to thwart Kingsley Coman and the mind games to distract Aurélien Tchouaméni, who subsequently missed.

Martínez insists any dark arts are not preordained. “I think it’s natural,” he says. “I don’t think about it, I just do it. It’s in the moment. It’s something that can happen, the adrenaline kicks in and sometimes you just can’t control it. I don’t look for it, it just comes. Sometimes when you see me from the outside, you think: ‘He looks a show-off.’ But no, I’m just a normal guy, a family man. But when it is about winning I try everything I can to win the game.”

Does Martínez feel misunderstood? “Yeah, exactly … [people who think of me being] the show-off are probably the team who doesn’t know me. When you ask all of my teammates, those in the national team, I do everything for my team, I try to help everyone in the club. The only thing that I want is the best for my club and country. That is all that I care about.”

In other words, the 31-year‑old unapologetically wants to win at all costs, though it is hard to keep a straight face when he insists he never intends to irk supporters. Jamie Vardy, who goaded Tottenham fans on Monday by pointing to the Premier League crest on his shirt, certainly enjoys a little bit of give-and-take with those in the stands. “Everyone has their own things,” Martínez says. “I never try to wind up fans, I never do that. I just try to slow things down when the game is against us; I try to kick the ball as hard as I can to the other side.

“But if you keep yourself steady and you don’t insult anyone, any religion … I think you can do whatever you want. I don’t swear, I don’t insult anyone. I just try to help my team – that’s all. I always respect the players. I just want to win the game. I don’t cross a line, I never do.”

After making two saves in a Copa América shootout win against Ecuador in July, Martínez again celebrated by exhibiting his snaking hips. It was a similar story in Lille, in Aston Villa’s Europa Conference League quarter-final, in which he was booked twice, the second for gamesmanship during a shootout win but survived a red card owing to the small print in the Uefa rulebook. “I thought I was off,” Martínez admits, raising a smile. “I think everyone in football thought that. I was actually asking the ballboy: ‘Can you please give me the ball?’ Then I was booked for that. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. So I was lucky. Because of that I missed the semi-final at home [to Olympiakos] in front of the fans, so after all that it was disappointing.”

As Martínez talks, speaking after announcing his new contract until 2029 in front of his family and 400 season-ticket holders at Villa’s revamped club shop, his son, wearing a replica kit, arches his back into him and every now and then Ava taps him with a pair of goalie gloves. “Daddy, daddy,” she says, as Martínez discusses the merits of his longtime psychologist, David Priestley, whom he first worked with at Arsenal, Villa’s opponents on Saturday. “He brings me down when I’m too high, he lifts me when I’m too low, and I think that is someone every player needs,” says Martínez, who turns 32 next month. “It is an investment, time in the week that I have to work with him. If you see my performances, I’m never 10 [out of 10], but I’m never four. I’m trying to always be a seven.”

Villa, whose supporters chant about Martínez being the world’s best goalkeeper, would dispute those ratings of his performances. A few minutes earlier, Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo, better known as Monchi, Villa’s highly regarded president of football operations who was a goalkeeper for Sevilla in his playing days, insisted Martínez should be spoken of in the same breath as legends such as Lev Yashin, Gianluigi Buffon, Dino Zoff and Ubaldo Fillol, a World Cup winner with Argentina in 1978. Martínez, who won his third golden glove with Argentina this summer, was awarded the Yashin Trophy at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris last year.

Martínez’s point-blank save to deny Leandro Trossard in a striking victory at Arsenal towards the end of last season sticks in the memory before the clubs meet again at Villa Park. Villa did the double over Arsenal last season, severely denting their opponents’ title hopes. Martínez feels “it is just another game” against his former club and “there is no way we can challenge for the title”, but is confident Villa can shock in Europe this season. “Especially with the manager we have got,” he says of Unai Emery. “He was in the semi‑final of the Champions League with Villarreal [in 2021-22]. He has won four Europa Leagues … for Villa, it being our first time in the Champions League, it is going to be new for us, but when you have a manager and players like we have you can go all of the way.”

Martínez exerts self-confidence but is also self-critical. “Last season I wasn’t happy with myself with nine clean sheets [in the league]. Javi [García, Villa’s goalkeeping coach] showed me the stats … I prevented goals, did more sweeping, took more crosses, but I want to the win the golden glove at Villa.

“I have changed a lot since Unai came here. Javi and Unai made me more like a centre‑back player, covering defence, sweeping. We conceded a lot of goals [last season]. If we can reduce the amount of goals we are conceding, I think we have got more chance of being in the top four and winning a trophy, something that has been missing.”

Martínez worked with “mad man” García at Arsenal under Emery and could have reunited with the pair at Villarreal in the summer of 2020, but picked Villa. While at Arsenal he was loaned to Oxford in League Two and Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham, Wolves and Reading in the Championship, as well as Getafe in La Liga. He impressed at Arsenal but was unable to establish himself as the first-choice goalkeeper under Mikel Arteta. “I play more games now, so I’m more experienced. I’m a dad,” he says. “When I was at Arsenal I was a young lad, learning the language, learning the English life. I am a completely different person now.”

As for those superstitions, they do not stop at one or two. “Aaah, I’ve got loads,” Martínez says. “I keep my same routine: I make sure I do pilates, yoga two days before, I pray before the games, have psychologist meetings.” His ­shirt‑number swap is already paying off, he says, alluding to Villa’s opening-day victory at West Ham, his first there since joining the club for £20m.

Martínez’s final two appearances for Arsenal both came at Wembley, an FA Cup win over Chelsea followed by a Community Shield shootout triumph over Liverpool, and now he is targeting silverware with Villa. “I’m speaking loudly in training saying: ‘We need to win a trophy, we need to at least play a final,’” Martínez says. “This club and these fans deserve a cup run. I love it here, obviously, but I wouldn’t stay at a club where I don’t see progress. Because I want to achieve things, I want to win things, I want to keep trying to be the best goalie in the world if I can.”

It has gone 9pm in Sydney and Mark Bosnich sits down to discuss Emiliano Martinez.

Both are considered Aston Villa’s greatest goalkeepers in the Premier League era. Bosnich made 217 appearances across seven years and won the League Cup twice. Martinez joined Villa in 2020, with 160 appearances to date and, having won the World Cup and two Copa America’s with Argentina, is the incumbent of The Yashin Trophy — the world’s best-performing goalkeeper award. The former Arsenal player has just signed a new contract until 2029.

“Villa toured Australia just before the 2022 World Cup,” Bosnich recalls. “I was working the games for TV and it was arranged to meet Emi at the team hotel in Perth. We had a great chat. He told me Villa supporters kept comparing him to me. I just said, ‘Listen, you’re going to win the World Cup in three months and because Villa haven’t won a major trophy since 1996, getting into the top four would be winning a trophy.

“Two years later, here we are. I am so happy for him. Right now there’s no better goalkeeper in the world.”

The Athletic has asked Bosnich to assess Martinez’s standout and varying attributes, be it his shot-stopping, “Schmeichel-esque” tendencies or his inherent character. Together, over the next 90 minutes, we watch video clips from last season.

Mark Bosnich: He has a great energy. If you look through his career and where he’s come from, he has a tinge of insecurity, which is understandable. I can understand why people think he’s arrogant but it’s insecurity disguised as arrogance. You don’t achieve what Emi has done without confidence, but I know what it is because I was accused of arrogance and deep down, it wasn’t that: it is confidence with a tinge of insecurity.

There must have been times when he thought, ‘Maybe it’s time to do something else’ during his loans at Rotherham, Reading, Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford etc. But he didn’t — instead, he reached the pinnacle. People take Emi the wrong way. He’s down to earth.

Bosnich begins by watching Martinez’s penalty saves in April’s UEFA Conference League shootout victory against Lille.

In the shootout, Martinez was the subject of whistles from Lille supporters, scolded for his lewd gestures and acts of pantomime in Argentina’s World Cup final victory against France. Martinez was shown a second booking during the penalties but was not sent off due to the yellow card not counting within the initial 90 minutes or half an hour of extra time. 

Martinez produced two penalty stops to secure Villa’s progress into the semi-finals.

Bosnich: He thrives on the boos. He’s been conditioned to build himself against people who say ‘You can’t do it’. He gets into the mindset where the negativity motivates him.

I’m 6ft 2in and remember looking up to him. He’s one of those guys where you don’t realise how tall he is. When people say ‘They look their age’, for goalkeepers, it is ‘they look their height’ which means they are not athletic. But Emi is very athletic. That night, he was huge.

Low down or in the top corners are the hardest saves to make in penalties. That was superb athleticism. For a low ball going hard along the ground, you’ve got to dive that far off the ground (Bosnich narrows his thumb and index finger together) and try not to fall like a harbour bridge because you will lose time and it can go underneath you. 

So a dive like this can be dangerous because the first part of your body that lands is your shoulder and you can injure it. Technically, the save was phenomenal. Look at his knee just slightly off the ground.

The next penalty was a very good save but it wasn’t as good as the first one as it was closer to him. But when I talk about feeling — you see when he stands tall up like that, the goal looks very small. Can you imagine after 120 minutes of playing, coming up and seeing him? You can understand the intimidation.

Penalty shootouts are a lot like boxing — you know when you see somebody’s face and you think, “They’ve lost before they get into the ring?” You see that in a lot of players who take penalties against him because he’s got himself the reputation.

The Athletic: Do you watch the ball or the penalty taker during the run-up? What clues do you get?

Bosnich: I watch the non-kicking foot and the position it is in relation to the ball. This one looks very close to the ball and normally it points to where the ball is going to go.

If you slow the footage down, the last non-kicking step is the key. If they curl the run-up, they are going to shoot across themselves. But if they run straight, with their non-kicking foot pointing straight like this one, they go to the side Martinez went because it is nigh impossible for them to go to his right. Martinez stays tall and waits for the penalty taker to put his head down. He’s in business.

The Athletic: Martinez jinks one way before diving to his left as Benjamin Andre runs up. Why does he not do this before every penalty?

Bosnich: If it is a shootout, the next penalty takers are watching you. So you always have to change up your little shimmy. Some forwards, like Alan Shearer, their first look would always be to the corner they were aiming for. They would then look again towards the other corner to put me off, but I always went with their first look.

Martínez’s personality is discernible within his style, invariably on the front foot and physically imposing. This has benefited his ability to smother closed-range shots and one-v-one situations. The first example shown is the 32-year-old’s save against Wolves full-back Rayan Ait-Nouri…

Bosnich: Schmeichel-esque, in how he makes himself like a handball goalkeeper. It’s the spread eagle. The closer the shot is, the less time you have and this method becomes effective. For a striker, it’s not nice when they see a big target coming towards them.

The Athletic: This one against Fulham stays in mind. Look at how long is left and the scoreline — how does Martinez maintain his poise at such a huge moment?

Bosnich: He had so much speed as he came out, but see how he stopped himself as Adama Traore steadies himself? It wasn’t dangerous speed where the striker can push the ball past you. It was well-timed.

A striker always tries to move the ball to move the angle, but if you can make that difficult for him to do, you’ve won half the battle.

The Athletic: From corners, Villa rarely have players stood on either post. Is this a good or bad thing for a goalkeeper? The more bodies blocking the goal, the better, but having a free post enables Martinez, as he does here, clarity to make these saves:

Bosnich: Wonderful reflexes. But it is one I would expect him to save. I wouldn’t be over the moon with having no players on the post but I was a goalkeeper happy to adapt. The best system I saw formulated was with Villa. We used to have two men on the post, one man on the six-yard box in line with the near post and one man in the middle who was our best header of the ball.

Then there was another person whose job was to make sure no one got in my way because I used to like to take high balls.

Having people on the post saves a lot of goals but my big thing from set plays was to make sure I had a clear run to claim crosses because with the spring I had and being able to use my hands, I should always be fine.

The Athletic: With Villa’s offside trap, particularly early on last season, Martinez faced a disproportionate number of high-quality opportunities. Here, Chelsea break Villa’s defensive line and Nicolas Jackson is through on goal…

Bosnich: He saves this with his right foot. It’s always better to go with your legs when a shot is close to your body as it’s the quickest way.

In one-v-one situations like this and to know where the goal was, I’d visualise drawing an imaginary line between the two posts and the player and make a triangle. If the keeper can be in the middle of that triangle, they give themselves every chance of saving.

If you go with your hands around your body, it can go underneath you. But your feet are always there. Emi is perfectly positioned with great reflexes again. If you want to get really technical, his central nervous system is perfectly in tune with his body.

The Athletic: Is his hand positioning important? Does it make covering angles easier? 

Bosnich: You don’t want your hand position too high or too low, just in between. Your hands are there for balance.

The Athletic: On the subject, how is it for a keeper to play with a high defensive line? Does it require a particular mindset?

Bosnich: At Manchester United, our thing was to play high. It makes the game easier for the central defenders so they don’t keep running back. I was always taught the distance between your last defender and myself should remain constant. But it can get to a point where you just do the offside line all the time, regardless if there is pressure on the ball or not. That’s where you’ve got to be careful.

I remember when I got into the first team at Villa in 1992-93 and we virtually lost the title away at Blackburn Rovers. It got to the stage where Paul McGrath and Shaun Teale were near the halfway line and it was too risky. But Paul was lightning quick and Shaun was a magnificent reader of the game.

It’s difficult for a team, especially when it’s wet, to put a perfectly weighted ball between the defence and a sweeper keeper. What you’ve got to be careful of is being chipped because you’re starting position is so high. I remember Anders Limpar almost dinked me at Villa Park in 1994.

The Athletic: Here’s a clip which appears to be a good example of Martinez’s anticipation. It looks as if he’s decided to go to his left before the shot is taken. What are the tell-tale signs?

Bosnich: He’s waited until the player has planted his last non-kicking step. In some circumstances, you have to anticipate making wonder saves. 

The Athletic: Do the defenders in front of him help in shutting off one side of the goal?

Bosnich: It can. That’s why I’ve got a pet hate with defenders who stand in what they would consider the right position — attempting to block the shot but with their legs open. Do you know how many goals go through a defender’s legs? I used to say to the late Ugo Ehiogu, McGrath, Steve Staunton and Gareth Southgate that all they needed to do was stand on one side and keep their legs closed because I’d be on the other side.

The conversation pivots to Martinez claiming crosses. It is a key, occasionally understated part of his game and alleviates the pressure on his team-mates.

The Athletic: Watch this one against Wolves. A cross is put into an area where Villa are three-v-three inside the box, yet Martinez reads the ball’s trajectory…

Bosnich: I’d always have a quick look to where the strikers were and line myself up with them because that’s where the crosser is going to aim. If you see Pablo Sarabia in the middle, Emi has aligned himself with him.

He’s on the front foot and it makes such a difference. You ask any defender what it’s like to have a goalkeeper who comes for crosses and it takes so much pressure off. To be a goalkeeper takes a special mentality because once you start to retreat inside your shell and the other team senses you’re not going to come off your line, the manager might as well take you off.

Look at how high he claims this ball. It’s lovely keeping.

The Athletic: Last season, Martinez had the ball at his feet longer than any other player, often standing still to bait attackers into pressing. But what can be overlooked is his level of distribution and kicking dexterity. This looks like a ‘side-winder’, no? You don’t see a lot of ‘keepers make this pass…

Bosnich: The South Americans love that. They called it the “Lafa Rel”. I used to have an Argentinian coach called Raul Blanco for Australia’s under-23s. He would swear by that technique as the pass went flat.

Sometimes you use a high ball when you want to waste time or a drop kick against the wind. But with that one, the South Americans swear by it. There was an Australian goalkeeper called John Crawley who went to Chile and started using the technique when he came back.

The final clip is the two exceptional saves Martinez made against Erling Haaland. They were the sole chances Manchester City had on the day, with Villa dominant in their best Premier League performance for over a decade.

Bosnich: The second save is better. The first was super, don’t get me wrong, but with the second, he’s made up so much ground and has had to fall backwards. It is what Ron Atkinson used to call ‘miracle saves’.

Even though he’s had to go behind himself, Emi has kept his arms in front of his body. Otherwise, if you start to dive backwards, you can get in big trouble and palm the ball into the net. Look at how strong his wrists are. 

This season, Martinez confirmed he would be changing his shirt number from 1 to No 23, owing to his son’s birth date and what he wears for Argentina.  

“I want to bring silverware to the fans, to Villa. I’m really superstitious,” he said.

Bosnich: He’s been a massive part of Villa’s revival. I’ll hold my hands up and say Emi is a better goalkeeper if he wins a trophy with Villa. 

The Athletic: So right now, you think you’re No 1 — but he can overtake you?

Bosnich: Yes. Forget about clean sheets or anything like that. It all depends on whether he wins a trophy with Villa.