EXCLUSIVE: Emi Martinez reveals the REAL reason he performed infamous World Cup Golden Glove celebration - and admits he shouldn't have done it

The World Cup final in Lusail had everything, from Lionel Messi's brace to a majestic hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe.

Martinez himself played a vital part in Argentina's victory, with a crucial last-minute save to deny Randal Kolo Muani that he admitted he still thinks about to this day. His heroics continued into the shootout when the Aston Villa 'keeper employed all the tricks in the book to put off the France takers, before coming up with a crucial save to deny Kingsley Coman.

Martinez's performances in Qatar earned him the tournament's prized Golden Glove award, but it was his celebrations which gained all the headlines.

Despite his own captain Messi warning him against it, the Aston Villa shot stopper repeated his somewhat unorthodox pose with the trophy that he did at the Copa America a year-and-a-half earlier.

Although he admits it was just a joke, Martinez told GOAL that he wasn't exactly proud of his actions.

"It was just silly things for me," Martinez explained. "It's something I'm not proud of to be fair because I had done it in the Copa America. My mate was saying 'I bet you're not going to do the same as the Copa America in the World Cup'. I say 'yes, I'm going to do it'.

"So I've done the same celebration that I've done in the Copa America. Seeing all the things afterwards and all the criticism, I should not really have done it. So that's the only thing I'm not proud of from the World Cup."

After being crowned the tournament's best goalkeeper, a few months later Martinez was awarded the Best Men's Goalkeeper at the 2022 FIFA's The Best Awards. The Villa No.1 went on to give an emotional speech dedicated to his team-mates, family and country.

Check out the full episode of Kit Collector on GOAL's Youtube channel.