What Dibu Martínez said to Kolo Muani before he kicked one of the World Cup final penalties

The Argentine national team he had to cross several obstacles to reach the desired port. After settling a group stage that began unexpectedly against Saudi Arabia, the albiceleste team lifted against Mexico and crowned a pre-qualifying stage against Poland that left some traces of doubt as to how it worked, an aspect that looked oiled in the coronation of the America Cup and the Final.

In the round of 16, Australia suffered a Lionel Messi in one of his best matches; In the quarterfinals, some arbitration rulings led to the definition against the Netherlands on penalties and the subsequent qualification to the semifinals with another outstanding performance by Messi, in the company of Julian Alvarez to defeat Croatia 3-0.

Upon reaching the grand final, La Scaloneta had to face the powerful France, who was diminished by an excellent collective level, accompanied by the goalkeeper Emiliano “Drawing” Martinezan athlete prepared for the key moments, of maximum tension, that teams go through in competitions of such a high level as a World Cup.

With a development of a game that seemed to be largely favorable for Argentina with a 2-0, the striker Kylian Mbappe, first from a penalty and then from a volley, made it 2-2 and the match went into overtime. In the last 30 minutes, divided into two periods of 15, both teams scored a goal and “Draw” Martinez He starred in a historic save against Kolo Muani that deprived the Europeans of skipping the definition of penalties.

From the twelve steps, La Scaloneta found a new virtue to exploit with players of great character and cold mind to go through a moment where it was decided who would be the new world champion. That is why Martínez, with a lot of support from his teammates, tried to dissuade the opponents and when the turn came to face Colonel Muanithe goalkeeper looked at the substitute bench to see if it was him.

With a gesture of pointing to the next performer, the phrase is read on the lips of Martínez: “Who is it?”, Following that, he consulted about more specific data, which denotes a previous study of each player who was going to kick: “Is it the one with the little step?”. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, the goalkeeper of the Aston Villa he transformed and with a mischievous smile he began to weave his strategy to get the France player out of focus who was approaching the area.

After the pantomime performed by the goalkeeper, the Polish referee Simon Marciniak He decided to admonish him for some improper gestures, added to a risqué talk with the judge. Despite Muani converting his penalty, his teammate Kingsley Coman He suffered the great moment of Dibu, who threw himself on a stick and stopped a powerful shot.

On the Argentine side, with tensions at their maximum in order to be crowned champion, the defender Gonzalo Montiel took charge of the fourth execution with a powerful shot, to the other stick that the goalkeeper chose Hugo Lloris to vent and shout champion.

THE NATION