Emi Martinez produces astonishing behind-the-back save for Aston Villa

There's unlikely to be a debate over the save of the season in the Premier League.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez surely has that wrapped up after producing an astonishing save during his team's 2-1 loss at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The Argentina international was standing slightly off his line as a header by Forest's Nicolas Dominguez went past him. Martinez stuck out his left hand behind him and somehow managed to drop the ball down onto the ground and scoop it away from off the line in the same motion.

The Premier League described the save as “world class.” The BBC suggested it might be “one of the all-time great Premier League saves.”

“I can’t think of a better Premier League save," said former England and Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp, who was working the game for British broadcaster Sky Sports.

“It’s almost like a magician with his sleight of hand.”

Three minutes later, Martinez was celebrating a goal by teammate Jhon Duran that put Villa ahead at the City Ground. But Forest scored two goals from the 87th to grab the win.

Martinez was voted as the best goalkeeper in the world at the Ballon d’Or awards for the past two years.

He famously pulled off a stunning stop in the last seconds of extra time in the 2022 World Cup final to deny France striker Randal Kolo Muani. That kept teammate Lionel Messi’s dream alive of finally winning soccer’s biggest prize.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Steve Douglas, The Associated Press