Before the World Cup final between Argentina and France, everyone was talking about Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, but then another name came up.
After 120 minutes and a 3-3 draw, penalties were needed to decide who would lift the trophy.
While Argentina's takers calmly converted all four of their spot-kicks, Martinez stepped up to break French hearts.
Even though he had scored two penalties in the game, there was no surprise that he converted France's first of the shootout.
From then on, the goalkeeper was the center of attention.
He denied Coman before the mind games started to unsettle the French.
As Aurelien Tchouameni walked up for his turn, he was forced to walk over to collect the ball after it was thrown away from Real Madrid's Luka Modric.
There is a word for such antics that can't be said here, but they had the desired effect as the 22-year-old Tchouameni dragged his penalty wide.
That put Argentina within touching distance of a first World Cup since 1986 and, although Randal Muani fired home France's next penalty, it only delayed the celebrations from the South Americans.
"Emi is a very positive guy and told his team-mates he was going to save some penalties," said Lionel Scaloni.
The pundits at the game agreed that the antics of Martinez played a big part in the win.
"There is no doubt that he had a huge impact in the shoot out," said the former England player.
"He was trying to wind them up, he was kicking the ball away, he was talking to the players, he was putting as much pressure as possible on them."
Rio Ferdinand said that he was trying to catch the eye of the person hitting the ball.
If it wasn't for a brilliant save by Martinez in the final seconds of extra time, the game wouldn't have gotten to a shootout.
Ibrahima Konate hit the ball forward and Muani raced through, only to be denied by the Spaniard who rushed out to close down the gap before spreading himself out to block the finish.
It was one of the saves that earned him the Golden Glove award for the most clean sheets with three.
In his short time with the national team, he has made a huge impact. He has helped Argentina win the World Cup since he made his debut.
He had to wait for his career to start. After eight years at Arsenal, where he played just 11 games in the premier league, he went on loan six times and joined Villa two years ago.
I don't have anything to say about it. After the final, he said that he was calm during the penalty shoot out.
All of my dreams have been fulfilled.
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