Emiliano Martinez's "stupid" celebrations "took away" from Argentina's World Cup success, according to France and Arsenal great Patrick Vieira.
Martinez saved Kingsley Coman's attempt and watched Aurelien Tchouameni roll wide as La Albiceleste overcame France 4-2 on penalties following an entertaining 3-3 draw in Sunday's Lusail Stadium final.
The Aston Villa goalkeeper was criticised for his gamesmanship during the shoot-out before his subsequent celebrations were thought to cross the line after appearing to repeatedly taunt Kylian Mbappe.
Martinez called for a "moment of silence" for Mbappe after his hat-trick proved in vain, while he was seen holding a bizarre puppet with the France forward's face on during homecoming celebrations.
Former Gunners captain Vieira, who won the 1998 World Cup with Les Bleus, labelled ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Martinez's action as unnecessary.
"When you talk about the abuse and the comments that [Mbappe] received after the World Cup, I think that is damaging the game and himself," the Crystal Palace manager said on Friday.
"Some of the pictures that I saw from the Argentina goalkeeper took away a little bit from what Argentina achieved at the World Cup.
"I don't think they really needed that. Sometimes, you can't control people's emotions or decisions, but that was a stupid decision from Martinez to do that. I was really disappointed.
"I want to have a picture of the Argentina fans with the passion and the love they showed during those games. Of course, they won the World Cup, but in the stands, they were the best as well.
"I want to keep that in my mind and not think about those stupid fans who put some darkness on top of what Argentina achieved on and off the field. This is the dark side of the Argentina World Cup win."
Villa 'deserved more' from draw with Palace, says Emery
Unai Emery suggested Aston Villa "deserved more" than a point after coming from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Crystal Palace at Villa Park.
The result sees Villa's winless streak extend to six matches across all competitions (D2 L4), equalling their longest run without a victory under Emery (also six in April-May 2024).
After Ismaila Sarr's early opener, the hosts needed Ollie Watkins to pull them level before Ross Barkley cancelled out Justin Devenny's strike with 13 minutes to go.
Yet having seen a penalty saved and hitting the woodwork, Emery felt his team should have got more from the match.
"We deserved more, but we made some mistakes that we need to correct. We had chances to score, we came back. The penalty was a key moment," he told Sky Sports.
"In the second half, we pushed and felt close to scoring, but we have to accept one point."
Youri Tielemans had the opportunity to put Villa ahead on the stroke of half-time from the spot but placed his shot at a saveable height for Dean Henderson, who guessed the right way.
It allowed Palace to break down the other end through Sarr, who squared to Devenny to send the visitors into the lead just before the break.
Emery admitted his players are "concerned" about their vulnerability in transitions and rued the mistakes being made.
"Here at home, we were thinking how strong we were, winning 15 games in a row and how we can recover confidence, impose our gameplan. We are losing some opportunities. We are conceding a few chances for the opponent and making some mistakes," he told reporters.
"We are not getting three points but deserving here at home to win. We played well against Arsenal, Bournemouth, Man United and here. But we are making mistakes and they are punishing us.
"Overall we had more chances, we dominated the match. We have to correct matches where we play like we did today and get more points."
Villa led their opponents comfortably on expected goals (xG), accruing a total of 3.18 compared to Palace's 1.27.
The visitors also had key players Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton out, leading Oliver Glasner to be pleased with his side's fighting display.
"I'm very proud of the team's performance. We’re missing some key players in attack, but we still scored two amazing goals," he said.
"I'm very proud how they played together, worked together, fight together and believed in getting a point here.
"Overall, it was a good performance for us, and we go home very pleased with the point."
Aston Villa 2-2 Crystal Palace: Sarr's first league goal for Eagles helps extend hosts' winless run
Ross Barkley’s late headed equaliser helped Aston Villa earn a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace at Villa Park, although their winless run now stands at four matches in the league.
Unai Emery’s side could not shake their poor form as they were forced to come from behind twice at home to an injury-hit Palace team.
Ismaila Sarr got the visitors off to a flying start with his first-ever league goal for the club on four minutes as he slotted home on the break, though Ollie Watkins brought the hosts level in the 36th minute.
Villa could have gone ahead as Youri Tielemans saw a penalty saved just before half-time, but it was Palace who took advantage through Justin Devenny. The 21-year-old put visitors back in front in first-half stoppage time.
The hosts left it late to snatch an equaliser as Barkley headed home from Tieleman's corner off the left with 13 minutes to go.
Aston Villa go seventh in the table, while Crystal Palace drop below Wolves and into the relegation zone in 18th.
Data Debrief: Sarr and Watkins lead from the front
Watkins has been directly involved in 50 goals in 80 Premier League appearances at Villa Park (35 goals, 15 assists), now the outright most of any Villa player in the competition (Gabriel Agbonlahor, 49).
At the other end, Sarr scored and assisted in a Premier League game for the second time in his career, previously doing so versus Liverpool in February 2020.
Both players led their respective sides for expected goals (xG), with Sarr accruing a total of 0.69 from the right wing, while Watkins totalled more than penalty-taker Tielemans with 1.29 xG.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
