Argentina’s goalkeeper trolled Kylian Mbappe during World Cup parade
July 15, 2018; Moscow, Russia; France forward Kylian Mbappe celebrates after defeating Croatia in the final of the FIFA World Cup 2018 at Luzhniki Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Groothuis/Witters Sport via USA TODAY Sports
Emiliano Martinez’s troll game remains undefeated.
Martinez went viral for his antics during Tuesday’s parade in Bueno Aires celebrating Argentina’s World Cup victory. Photos from the crowd showed Martinez, the goalkeeper for Argentina, on the parade bus holding a baby doll with the face of France star Kylian Mbappe pasted on it. Take a look.
Team Argentina's Emiliano Martinez brought a baby toy with Kylian Mbappe's face at their victory parade in Buenos Aires 😂💀 pic.twitter.com/qWiIOxAXql
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 20, 2022
Argentina beat Mbappe and France on penalty kicks in Sunday’s all-time classic of a World Cup final. During his team’s celebration in the locker room afterwards, Martinez could be heard poking fun at Mbappe as well.
"A minute of silence for … Mbappe!" 😅
Emiliano Martinez during Argentina's dressing room celebration.
(via nicolasotamendi30/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/dwm3IrUNWG
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 18, 2022
Ironically, Mbappe had embarrassed Martinez in the match, at least one-on-one. He hung a hat trick on Martinez, scoring three goals (including beating Martinez on two penalty kicks). Mbappe also scored against Martinez during the decisive penalty shooutout (though Argentina still prevailed 4-2 to take home the World Cup trophy).
But Martinez was probably just jubilant (maybe a bit overly so) about his country’s well-deserved triumph, the first World Cup victory for Argentina since 1986. He did, in fairness, console Mbappe soon after the match in a nice sportsmanlike moment.
Mbappe’ye Fransa CB Emmanuel Macron’un yapamadığını, Arjantin kalecisi Martinez yapıyor. Mbappe’nin vücut diline dikkat. İnanılmaz bir karakter. Artık dünyanın en iyisi olma yolunda bayrak Mbappe’ye geçiyor. Hakkıyla hem de. pic.twitter.com/wGsVGZ7mkL
— BÄ° DEVRE (@BiDevre) December 19, 2022
Martinez, who plays at the club level for Aston Villa in England, was already known as one of the bigger characters in soccer. Now the whole world knows it too after this year’s World Cup (during which Martinez also did a vulgar gesture after winning the Golden Glove trophy).