Aston Villa defeated Lille and advanced to the Europa Conference League semi-finals behind Emiliano Martinez, who was the obvious star of a thrilling penalty shootout.

The Argentina custodian, who played a key role in his nation’s World Cup victory eighteen months prior, performed similar feats in France, blocking penalty penalties from Benjamin Andre and Nabil Bentaleb to secure a 4-3 shootout victory after the quarterfinal had finished 3-3 on aggregate after two legs.

His signature dark skills were on full display when he silenced the curious French spectators, who were still processing what had transpired in Qatar, and then created confusion by getting a yellow card from the referee in the middle of the shootout despite having previously been booked in regular time.

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However, since there are no carryover bookings for the shootout, he could continue and lead Villa to their first European semifinal since 1982.

Despite being outplayed for most of the second leg in France, where goals from Andre and Yusuf Yazici reversed a 2-1 first-leg advantage, they were not worthy of winning.

Matty Cash’s 87th-minute strike sent it to extra-time, with Martinez coming up trumps in the shootout to give boss Unai Emery an eighth successive European quarter-final victory.

The Spaniard, so prolific in the Europa League with Sevilla and Villarreal, will be eyeing another European trophy.

While Villa were executing one of their best performances of the season in the 2-0 win at Arsenal on Sunday, Lille had the weekend off, with Ligue 1 cancelling their fixture so they could focus on this match.

Unsurprisingly the hosts were on the front foot and wiped out their deficit in the 15th minute with a quality goal.

Yazici brilliantly met Gabriel Gudmundsson’s low cross after a long ball found him open on the left, and he fired a first-time effort into the bottom corner to tie the score at 2-2 overall.

Martinez, who made several saves in the first leg of the match last week, bravely stopped Andre’s header at close range, and the Lille captain missed another set-piece.

Villa needed to deny Lille a second. For the most part, the first half saw Emery’s team defending, and they were nothing near as good as they were at the Emirates.

In the 56th minute, Cash, assisted by Moussa Diaby and John McGinn, gave Villa their first real chance to challenge the Lille goal when he blasted into the side netting.

False hope was aroused, and in the 68th minute, Andre scored the second goal for the hosts when he glanced Hakon Arnar Haraldsson’s corner in off the crossbar and post.

The visitors had to pursue the game, and in the 82nd minute, Lucas Chevalier turned over Cash’s long-range attempt, giving them their first opportunity on goal.

With three minutes of normal time remaining, Villa saved themselves and sent the game into extra time.

Chevalier was at fault for this. Ollie Watkins’ cross was dropped by the goalkeeper, and Cash’s attempt from the edge of the box deflected in.

Chevalier made up for that mistake in the first half of extra time when, just as the Villa midfielder appeared about to score, he recovered magnificently to sweep Douglas Luiz’s header from the rebound to safety after beating Leon Bailey’s drive.

In the 120th minute, the French goalie stopped Jhon Duran’s low shot with a fantastic stop with his foot, depriving Villa once again.

But in the shootout, it was always going to be about the other goalie, who stopped Bentaleb’s penalty kick before interacting with the crowd and almost getting into trouble.

Bailey’s miss for Villa allowed Lille to tie the game, but Martinez’s save from Andre set off jubilation once Luiz scored.