Fans spot Villa goalkeeper Martinez 'begging' Ronaldo to take penalty instead of Fernandes

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was seen asking Cristiano Ronaldo to take the penalty as Bruno Fernandes was getting ready to take it during the last minutes of Manchester United’s Premier League 2021 match against Aston Villa on Saturday. As Fernandes got ready, Martinez got up to his face and asked Ronaldo, who was standing just behind to take the penalty shot. However, Fernandes went for the shot and ended up sending the ball above the bar and soaring to the sky. This missed opportunity by United, made them suffer the loss as they were unable to level scores with Villa. 

Penalty attempt by Fernandes-

Meanwhile, Martinez’s gesture to Ronaldo before the penalty in front of Fernandes is being considered as a tactic by the goalkeeper to get into Fernandes’ head. Fans watching Martinez talk to Ronaldo went berserk on social media and flooded Twitter with their reactions. One of the users who claimed to be a Manchester United fan said that he liked Martinez as he always gets into the opposition’s head, by one way or another. He further added that by asking Ronaldo to take the penalty in front of Bruno, he dismissed the efforts of the latter by getting into his mind.

Another user termed Martinez to be a Lionel Messi fan and said that this is what is expected from him.

One of the users said that Martinez asked Ronaldo to take the penalty because he figured Ronaldo’s strike would be easier to anticipate, after studying both him and Fernandes.

Meanwhile, Paul Pogba was seen telling Ronaldo that Fernandes would take the penalty. Another fan took a vibe on Pogba and suggested that he should have given the penalty to Ronaldo.

After Fernandes lost the penalty in the injury time, the United failed to score a goal in the match and ended up losing 0-1 to Aston Villa. As mentioned on the official website of Manchester United, club manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expressed his thoughts about Fernandes missing the penalty and said, "I didn't like the way they crowded Bruno, the penalty spot, the referee, all that malarkey but Bruno's very strong mentally and unfortunately today it didn't go in". Manchester United now find themselves at fourth place in the Premier League 2021 points table as they have won four out of the six matches they have played in the season. 

(Image: Twitter/EFL)