Days after her suspension, Emi Martinez lets Prince William celebrate in the Champions League

Days after being banned by FIFA, Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez performed heroically in front of Prince William as Aston Villa secured another famous win against Bayern Munich.

The Prince of Wales was among the enthusiastic spectators at Villa Park to watch his beloved football team’s 1-0 victory in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Substitute Jhon Duran scored the winner in the 79th minute, but two brilliant late saves from Martinez prevented six-time European champions Bayern from defending themselves and left William celebrating.

“This is the loudest Villa Park I have heard since I joined the club. That’s for sure. At one point it hurt my ears,” said Martinez, who was suspended by FIFA last week for two upcoming international matches for unspecified incidents in Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia.

“I love playing here. I love the fans. This is a victory for them.”

Martinez was denied by Serge Gnabry one-on-one in stoppage time and then acrobatically fended off Harry Kane’s header.

Villa’s victory came more than 42 years after beating Bayern 1-0 and winning the European Cup in 1982, the same year William was born.

This was only the second time the teams met.

It was also Villa’s first home game in Europe’s top competition since their quarter-final defeat to Juventus as defending champions in 1983.

William, who is a lifelong Villa fan, met members of the European Cup winning team and posed for photos before the game.

“42 years later, our legends who won the European Cup in 1982 are here on a historic evening,” he wrote on X. “Ready for the first home game in this year’s European adventure…”

William, who is also patron of the English Football Association, sat in an executive box, casually wearing a dark blue button-down coat over a maroon sweater and blue shirt – Villa’s colors.

He was seen hugging another fan sitting next to him as the home crowd enjoyed his recent triumph over German giants Bayern.

He was also awake in the first half, celebrating when Pau Torres appeared to have given Villa the lead in the 23rd minute, but the goal was ruled out by VAR for offside.

There was no reprieve for Bayern as Duran scored, continuing his remarkable goal tally this season.

When he came on as a substitute in the 70th minute, he beat Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer with a first-time shot from around 25 meters.

It was the Colombian striker’s sixth goal in nine games this season, in which he came off the bench eight times.

Villa have now claimed two consecutive wins in the new-look Champions League.

Bayern’s defeat was the first under coach Vincent Kompany, who took over in the offseason.

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James Robson is there https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer