Emery expects Martinez to be protected
KEEPY CUPPY: Jurgen Klopp shows the way forward in training while keeper Alisson (below) puts in some dives
EMI MARTINEZ is preparing to enter a cauldron of hate tonight — with Aston Villa boss Unai Emery calling upon his team to ‘protect’ their goalkeeper.
The Argentine shotstopper returns to
France for the first time with memories of his antics at the Qatar World Cup 17 months ago still fresh in the hosts’ minds.
Martinez (31) became a national hero in South America for behaviour that could be considered sportsmanship at best and gamesmanship at worst as the keeper came out on top in two penalty shoot-outs, including in the final against Les Bleus.
Clearly, France supporters have not forgotten with several chants being directed towards the 31-year-old during the first leg last week — and with a sell-out 50,000 crowd expected in the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, the volume will be deafening.
Prestige
“When you succeed with your country you will have opponents in other countries and teams you beat — but we will protect him.
“We have to manage it. We have to control our emotions, be mature and responsible. We haven’t spoken to him about it. We’re busy focusing on the match with everything and tomorrow we’ll play with 50,000 of their fans and ours. There will be a great atmosphere.”
The subtext is the ongoing row over blocking at set pieces.
Lille boss Paulo
Fonseca still has a bee in his bonnet about the issue after last week when Morgan Rogers’ positioning allowed Ollie Watkins to open the scoring.
Fair
The Portuguese made his feelings known after the final whistle at Villa Park — and it was the central theme to his prematch musings.
He said: “I love the fair game and what I want is a fair game. Some weeks ago, I asked one international French referee what he thought about set pieces.
“I wanted to understand what is and what isn’t allowed. He explained — very clearly — that a block is a block. It’s not a foul unless the player moves.
“I know it’s difficult for referees to see it all but now we have VAR because what I’m seeing is not blocks, it’s fouls.”
However, Emery remained unrepentant over the issue.
“It’s an important part of the game,” he said, “100 per cent — it’s been an important part of my career. I work at it a lot. I’m working a lot with a specialist in Austin MacPhee, I’m helping him and together, with my coaches, we are doing it.”
DAVID MOYES hopes Bayer Leverkusen have been on the sauce after their Bundesliga triumph — and that West Ham give them a bitter Pils to swallow.
The Hammers boss was ale and hearty as he assessed his team’s prospects of overturning a 2-0 deficit from the first leg in tonight’s Europa League quarter-final at the London Stadium.
Leverkusen clinched their maiden title with a 5-0 romp against Werder Bremen on Sunday and toasted their 43-match unbeaten run this season with nectar from one-litre jugs.
Moyes hopes the celebrations went on long into the night — and perhaps spilled into the start of the week.
“And rightly so — why would you not celebrate winning the title,” he said. “To be the champions, you should celebrate, you should enjoy it because those moments don’t come round very often and they go very quickly.
“I hope they’ve been downing those big giant glasses of beer they get in Germany.”
It would be the greatest comeback of Moyes’ 1,145game managerial career if the Hammers gave Xabi Alonso’s invincibles a giant hangover.
And although they will be without the suspended Lucas Paqueta and Emerson, top scorer Jarrod Bowen is expected to return from a back injury.
Risk
Moyes, who is 61 next week, said: “I would never risk a player if I thought they were injured, but you always want your best players back in, especially your goalscorers.
“Most people know exactly what Jarrod has done for us over this season and others. It would give us and the crowd a real lift. We’ve lost Lucas through suspension, so we have to find ways of making magic happen.”
It is a strange world where a manager can deliver only the fifth trophy in a club’s history and find himself under fire from sections of the fanbase 12 months later.
But that is Moyes’ predicament on a night which could go down in East end folklore — or spell the end of an era.
A new two-year contract awaits him in the pending tray, but he is in no rush to sign it before his existing deal runs out at the end of this season.
Asked if he felt under pressure, Moyes
(inset) said: “Not at all, but as a manager you have to accept that your job is like that.
Smooth
“We’ve had a lot of ups, some downs as well, but in the main it’s been really positive. Maybe West Ham are a different sort of club. This place has never been all smooth, but this is probably its highest standing for a long time.
“No one is coming here to have a smooth ride. It is a club which has been up and down, but it’s never been in Europe three times in a row and now our plan is to make it four.”
Hammers keeper Lukasz Fabianski, who is 39 today, warned the Irons cannot afford to be too gung-ho from the first whistle, saying: “Our game plan has to be smart.
“You can’t go too crazy from the very first minute. It’s a very demanding challenge, but we have to believe we can do it.
“We have managed to create some special magic on European nights here and we hope this will be another one.”
WEST HAM (4-3-3): Fabianski; Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Cresswell; WardProwse, Soucek, Alvarez; Bowen, Antonio, Kudus. LEVERKUSEN (3-4-3): Kovar; Hincapie, Tah, Tapsoba; Frimpong, Palacios, Xhaka,
Grimaldo; Wirtz, Boniface, Adli.