In the second round of the UEFA Champions League stage, Aston Villa defeated their strong rivals Bayern Munich 1-0 at home in the early hours of this morning. After the match, Villa goalkeeper Damian Martinez was interviewed by TNT Sports, sharing his thoughts on the match and his team's performance.
Martinez began by talking about the atmosphere of the game, "To be honest, it was surreal. It was the loudest Villa Park cheer I've heard since I joined the club and it hurt my ears at one point. This is a club that is moving forward, I love playing here, I love the fans and this win means a lot to them."
During the match, Martinez managed to parry a header from Bayern striker Kane, to which he said, "I know Kane and know that he can always find a shot on goal at some point in the game. Therefore, I spend a lot of time practicing my movement and saves, and I am very satisfied with my successful save today."
Speaking about the team's defense, Martinez said, "We focused more on defense in the Champions League and now we need to bring that spirit to the Premier League. We conceded some goals in the Premier League and need to find a balance between offense and defense. We know we are capable of keeping a clean sheet, so we will move on from here and try to improve the quality of our defense."
Martinez had nothing but praise for teammate Duran's performance, "He's returned this season with a different mentality, training very hard and has been motivating Watkins. They can play together and complement each other very well. Duran is a superb substitute, he picked the ball out past Neuer with his first touch and that goal was undoubtedly one of the best goals in history."
Finally, Martinez spoke about the result and his outlook for the future: "This win proves what we are capable of, but we know there are still a lot of games to play. Our goal is to reach the top eight of the Champions League and we'll take one step at a time. Our next game will be at home against Bologna, and although it might be a bit more relaxed, we want to win every game and bring more joy to our fans."
