Owing to superstition, before the season started Emiliano Martínez traded his No 1 shirt for the No 23. The number – a nod to the day his six-year-old son, Santi, was born – has proved a good omen, Martínez says, given he has won four trophies with Argentina, including a second Copa América this summer, wearing it.
Another superstition has been in play since his wife, Mandinha, gave him a pair of cuddly toy animals before the World Cup; Santi’s penguin and the giraffe of their three-year-old daughter, Ava, to carry as mascots in the dressing room, alongside a photo of his children. “I keep them with me everywhere I go,” says Martínez, whose shin pads are covered in images of his family and moments from his career. “It gives me a little bit of motivation before every game. She [Mandinha] said: ‘You are going to bring the golden cup home.’ I was 40 days away from the family, and I did it.”
