Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has form for mind games before penalties and he was at it again before Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes skied his penalty over the bar.
Dean Smith’s men came away from Old Trafford with a 1-0 win, but United missed a golden chance to equalise from 12 yards in injury time.
Centre-back Kortney Hause scored the match-winner with a header at a corner in the 87th minute, but a few minutes later he conceded a spot-kick after handling it inside the box.
Mike Dean pointing to the spot raised a question of who would take the penalty out of Fernandes and his Portugal team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, and Martinez decided to use that uncertainty to his advantage.
The Argentinian, who psyched out Everton’s Yerry Mina during the Copa America, took the brave decision to walk over to Ronaldo and tell him to take the penalty.
In the end, he faced Fernandes – who has an excellent record from the spot – but didn’t need to make a save as the ball went sailing over the crossbar to keep Villa’s lead intact. His mind tricks evidently did a job on United’s No.18.