Aston Villa defender Matty Cash has revealed how Emiliano Martinez landed him a Lionel Messi jersey on Wednesday night.
Both Argentina and Poland advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup despite the former sealing a 2-0 win in their final group game, and so that saw Villa’s contingent of Cash, Martinez and Jan Bednarek all extend their stay in Qatar.
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While they would have been fully focused on helping their respective nations get the result they needed this week, there was a great moment after the game that Cash shared involving the Villa teammates.
As per talkSPORT, the Villa defender revealed how he spoke with Martinez after the game and having headed down the tunnel together, he brought him out a gift from the Argentina dressing room that he’ll no doubt treasure moving forward.
“At the end of the game, Emi Martinez comes up to me and says: ‘Cashy, I’ve got you a present’,” he said, as per the video below.
“He’s gone into the changing room, said wait there, and he’s walked out with a Messi shirt for me. Amazing, don’t get any better than that.”
It’s a wonderful gesture from Martinez to sort his Villa teammate out with what will undoubtedly be a prized possession, and as seen in the image below, even though it wasn’t the shirt Messi wore on the night, Cash was rightly more than happy to share his joy with getting the jersey on his Instagram account.
While it’s hoped that they enjoy a deep run in the tournament and return better for the experience, it’s great to see Martinez and Cash share this moment as they perform on the global stage and it’s arguably an insight into the great unity within the ranks for them to look out for each other even just minutes after going to battle against each other.
Matty Cash: "At the end of the game, Emi Martinez comes up to me & says: 'Cashy, I've got you a present'. He's gone into the changing room, said wait there, and he's walked out with a Messi shirt for me. Amazing, don't get any better than that."
🤝🟣🔵#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/YVFvUlKOKn
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) December 1, 2022
🎁 “At the end of the game, Emi Martinez says ‘Cashy, I’ve got you a present!’”
🤩 “He’s gone into the changing room and walked out with a Messi shirt for me!”@MattyCash622 got an amazing gift from #AVFC teammate @EmiMartinezz1 after #ARG vs #POL last night! 👕#TSWorldCup pic.twitter.com/SNuogjTJsC
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) December 1, 2022
