EMI MARTINEZ produced “the best Premier League save” so stunning that even Sky Sports had no idea where the ball ended up.
Nottingham Forest fans inside the City Ground and watching their clash against Aston Villa on TV thought their side had gone in front on the hour mark.
But it turned out Martinez, 32, had produced a moment of sheer genius to deny Nicolas Dominguez from heading in.
And it was so good that the Sky Sports cameras could not work out what was going on as the ball went out of shot – even though it was still in play.
Unmarked at the back post, Dominguez headed a corner goalwards and looked for all the world to have scored.
But bizarrely the net did not ripple – to his clear confusion as he lay in the penalty area.
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And it was not until the replays were shown that fans and commentators realised what had actually happened.
Martinez had somehow managed to spin around and claw the ball back from on the line and pull it back into the six-yard box before it was hoofed away by a Villa defender.
It looked as though it has gone out for a corner and the camera stayed on the cluster of players in the penalty area.
Weirdly, though, the ball stayed in play near the corner flag – but the Sky operators lost track of it – before the players carried on and the yellow ball suddenly came back into the frame from a cross.
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Just moments after Martinez’s magic stop, Villa broke the deadlock at the other end.
Jhon Duran headed in emphatically before another fine save from Martinez.
He escaped a Chris Wood equaliser by a narrow VAR call but then Nikola Milenkovic got the better of Martinez as the Argentine unluckily got his arms in a muddle as the header bundled over the line in the 87th minute.
Then in incredible scenes, Anthony Elanga grabbed an injury-time winner to flip the match on its head and secure a memorable victory for Forest.
But even so, all the talk on social media was about the two-time world’s best goalkeeper’s heroics.
Approximately 3,000 fans on a Sky Sports X poll dubbed it the save of the season so far.
And supporters flooded the comments with praise for the World Cup winner.
One said: “That’s an all-timer.”
Another wrote: “That was insane Martinez always comes up big when it matters.”
A third added: “Unreal my word save of the season easy.”
A fourth typed: “Slow motion that is absolutely sensational.”
A sixth replied: “Unstoppable reflexes under pressure!”
And a final user boldly declared: “Best save ever.”
Then Jamie Redknapp on punditry duties in the Sky studio claimed it was the best save in Premier League history.
He said: “I can’t think of a better save. Somehow he reacts. It’s the best save.
“I can’t think of a better Premier League save in my life. People talk about Gordon Banks against Pele.
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“It’s behind him, he doesn’t just save it but drags it back.
“Absolutely incredible. That is truly sensational.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
