According to Emiliano Martinez, Argentina fans in Qatar have significantly impacted the country’s progress to the final.
Argentina defeated Croatia in the semi-finals on Tuesday evening, with a brace from Julian Alvarez and a penalty shot from Lionel Messi making the difference.
Following the victory, the Aston Villa goalkeeper told beIN Sports: “I still can’t believe it. I cannot believe it. We lost the first game, and everything turned upside down, with people questioning us since we had lost our undefeated streak of 36 games.
“We were a tad clumsy in the opening half against Mexico. Everyone expected us to lose, so it’s just us vs the rest of the world.
“I’m delighted this group of 26 guys is all warriors and that we have the support of 45 million Argentinians. We feel the audience, the streets are packed with Argentinians, and we feel at home every time we perform. There are usually 40 to 50,000 Argentinians at every stadium, and we are overjoyed to have them.”
Emiliano Martinez responded when questioned about Lionel Messi’s health and if there were any worries after the striker was spotted clutching his hamstring: “No, no. We played 120 minutes against Holland, which was a difficult game for him, but as you can see, he is determined to win every game. He’s physically strong and wins man of the match in every game.”
