Aston Villa injury news as manager prepares to exclude goalkeeper from international squad
Emiliano Martínez has been playing through injury since damaging a calf before Aston Villa’s Europa League win against Feyenoord in Rotterdam.
Villa were forced into a late change at De Kuip and understudy goalkeeper Marco Bizot produced a phenomenal performance as Villa scored twice to win their second European fixture of the season.
Martínez has had to navigate a disrupted opening to the 2025/26 season.
The Villa goalkeeper missed the first Premier League match against Newcastle United because of suspension after he was sent off against Manchester United at Old Trafford in May.
He then sat out the third fixture against Crystal Palace on the night before the transfer deadline, was injured for the first game of the league phase of the Europa League against Bologna and had to withdraw during the warm-up in Rotterdam.
Having returned to a more familiar rhythm, Martínez was able to go on international duty in October. Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni suggested in between the world champions’ two fixtures that some management of his goalkeeper’s situation might be overdue.
“Dibu always wants to play, like everyone else,” Scaloni said during the October international match window. Martínez kept two clean sheets in friendlies for Argentina, playing the entirety of a 1-0 win against Venezuela and 76 minutes in a 6-0 victory against Puerto Rico.
“That’s great for us. It’s important that he wants to be here. He made the effort to come despite his calf problem, and that matters to us… In November, we’ll probably try something different.”
An unusual international career
Martínez has never shied away from playing for Argentina. The 33-year-old has won 57 caps for his country and every one of them has been as a Villa player inside the last five years.
He was loaned to six different clubs during his time at Arsenal, playing just a handful of first team fixtures for the Gunners during a decade on the books of the north London club.
The Mar del Plata-born goalkeeper joined Villa in 2020 and has thrived with regular Premier League football. Martínez’s belated emergence as a top-flight goalkeeper earned him a senior Argentina debut in June 2021, ten years after his first national team call-up.
He’s been all but ever-present since then as Argentina have enjoyed a huge amount of success. Martínez helped his country to back-to-back Copa América wins – both with clean sheets in the final – in 2021 and 2024.
It was a different story in Qatar in late 2022, when plenty of goals were conceded by Argentina but they fought tooth and nail to win the World Cup for the third time.
The world champions are scheduled to continue their World Cup preparations with a friendly against Australia in India next month, though media reports in Spain indicate that the host country’s inability to meet Argentina’s requirements means the trip has in fact been postponed.
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