Emiliano Martínez is flying high days after helping Argentina win the World Cup for the first time in 36 years.
Martínez won the Golden Glove award as the top goalkeeper in this year’s tournament and celebrated with his teammates at a massive, raucous victory parade Tuesday in Buenos Aires.
While Argentina’s players soaked up the celebratory scene amid an estimated 4 million fans in the nation’s capital, Martínez also used the occasion to poke fun at France‘s star striker Kylian Mbappé.
Standing atop an open-air bus at the parade, Martínez hoisted a baby doll adorned with a photo of Mbappé’s face.
Previously, Martínez trolled Mbappé by sarcastically calling for a moment of silence for the French star in the Argentine locker room after Sunday’s World Cup final.
Those moments stand in contrast to the immediate aftermath of the match, won by Argentina 4–2 on penalty kicks after a 3–3 draw, when Martínez consoled Mbappé on the pitch.
Mbappé scored all three French goals in the final and successfully netted his shootout penalty kick.
The flap between Martínez trolling Mbappé stems from comments made by Mbappé prior to the World Cup final when the French star seemed to disparage the talent level of South American teams.
“The advantage we have in Europe is that we play among ourselves with high-level matches all the time, such as the Nations League,” Mbappé said at the time. “When we arrive at the World Cup, we are ready, whereas Brazil and Argentina do not have this level in South America. Football is not as advanced as in Europe. That’s why at the last World Cups, it’s always the Europeans who win.”
Martínez then retorted pointedly and clearly took exception to the comment.
“He doesn’t know enough about football,” Martínez said. “He never played in South America. When you don’t have this experience, it may be better not to talk about it. But it doesn’t matter. We are a great team, recognized as such.”
