Milner really wasn’t impressed with Martinez’s antics against Liverpool.
Liverpool fans noticed James Milner’s exchange with Emi Martinez after their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
Milner played in his final Anfield appearance for the club and was given an incredible send-off by the home fans. It left the Premier League legend in tears.
But it was ultimately a disappointing afternoon for everyone involved with Liverpool.
The draw with Villa means that Jurgen Klopp’s side now need a minor miracle just to qualify for next season’s Champions League. They need to beat Southampton on the final day and hope either Newcastle or Manchester United lose their remaining matches.
Villa frustrated the home side on Saturday and should have taken the lead earlier than they did. Ollie Watkins missed a first half penalty before Jacob Ramsey eventually fired Unai Emery’s side 1-0 up.
With them chasing Europa League football, Villa were desperate to come away with all three points. So much so that three Villa players picked up yellow cards for time-wasting with goalkeeper Martinez being one of them. The former Arsenal goalkeeper angered the home crowd by going down injured and holding onto the ball for far too long.
They ultimately failed in their quest to hold on as Roberto Firmino’s late strike earned Liverpool a point.
But, for Liverpool, it was two points dropped and Milner couldn’t hide his frustrations after his last Anfield appearance.
Milner has words with Martinez
Before attention turned to his emotional goodbye, Milner wanted words with Martinez.
At the final whistle, Milner marched over to Martinez who was sitting on the floor – not for the first time on the afternoon.
And if Martinez thought Milner was coming over to shake his hand and congratulate him for his performance, he was very much mistaken.
Milner picked Martinez off the ground and appeared to have a few choice words for the Argentine. Martinez responded with some gesticulations himself.
The clip was posted by Redmen TV’s Paul Machin and it’s something that Liverpool fans thoroughly enjoyed:
VIDEO: James Milner speaks to Emiliano Martinez at full time
James Milner. Final game at Anfield, could be lost in the emotion, instead picks up Villa keeper Martinez off the floor and quite possibly calls him a time wasting bellend. 😂
Liverpool and Premier League Legend. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/3JlFx5CnR4
— Paul (Maych) Machin (@ThePaulMachin) May 20, 2023
Liverpool fans loved Milner’s actions
What did Klopp say about Aston Villa’s time-wasting?
“Time-wasting is… wow,”Klopp said. “Wow. We saw with Sevilla, 2-1 up, the ball boys leave the country, Roma against Leverkusen, how long was the ball in play? You always have these kinds of game – you think ‘what is that?’.
“Ten minutes [added time] was really absolutely fine, but we should have another five minutes in just the 10 minutes.
“I think 15 minutes would have been all right. We have to talk about that.
“That’s a subject for another day but that’s just a bit annoying in general I think. How can you do that?
“Do we have to give the yellow cards earlier? They try to play the time down. Everybody is doing it. The whole world. Of course they are, they go to the corner flag, stay on the ball, stuff like this. We have seen in too many games this season, it starts too early. And it’s a rhythm breaker. One team going for it. A player goes down. Breaks the rhythm.
“It has nothing to do with the result today, just a general football subject.”