⚽️ Europa League final updates from the 8pm BST kick-off
⚽️ Freiburg lowdown | The Europa League king | Mail Scott
Villa have form for goalkeeper woes in European finals. Jimmy Rimmer went into the 1982 European Cup final with a sore neck, having taken a whack in training a couple of days before the match. He lasted nine minutes before giving way to 23-year-old substitute goalie Nigel Spink, who went on to have the match of his life. So all won’t be lost should the worst happen to Martinez …
… though our man on the spot, Ben Fisher, has just reported that “the glove is now back on and he’s practising claiming crosses from coaches and the other goalkeepers.” So panic over, for now at least.
Emi Martinez may have an issue here: Villa’s goalkeeping coach, Javi Garcia, has just spent the past couple of minutes taping one of Martinez’s fingers and now the Argentinian World Cup winner is continuing to warm up with his right goalie glove in his left hand. He looks very mobile, but it doesn’t seem ideal.
