National Team Alert: Dibu Martínez only played 45 minutes for Aston Villa and left as a precaution a month before the matches against Uruguay and Brazil

Emiliano Martínez 's absence was felt when the Aston Villa eleven came out to play the second half against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park: it is not usual for a goalkeeper to leave his team at half-time. And the alarms went off in Argentina, less than a month before the National Team resumes the South American Qualifiers , no more and no less, with the visit to Uruguay and the reception of the classic against Brazil .

El Dibu saved the first half of the match that his team lost 4-1, on matchday 27 of the Premier League . Throughout those 45 minutes, the Mar del Plata native was unable to stop Ismaila Sarr's goal, who captured a rebound that the goalkeeper gave away. But he did have several precise interventions to prevent the score from being more bloated at the end of that initial stage.

It was therefore surprising that he did not play the remainder of the match after passing through the locker room. In the absence of an official medical report, it was revealed that Dibu has a problem in one of his hamstrings and that he was reserved as a precaution .

Robin Olsen came on to take the Aston Villa goal in place of Martínez. But he did not have such an easy time of it. Although Morgan Rogers - who had a goal disallowed in the first half - made it 1-1 seven minutes into the second half, the home side quickly took the lead again through Jean-Philippe Mateta, with the Dibu's replacement being unable to do much about it.

He then conceded two more goals: Sarr scored again in the 26th minute, while Eddie Nketiah turned the game into a rout in added time. In both, he saw the ball go through.

Aston Villa were unable to build on their weekend win against Chelsea and suffered a result that puts them far from the European spots. With Marco Asensio, who scored twice against Chelsea, and Marcus Rashford as substitutes, Villa suffered too much.

Unai Emery's side have won one of their last four games and, with 42 points, are two away from the Conference League and four away from the Champions League. Oliver Glasner's Palace, meanwhile, are almost assured of staying up and are 12th with 36 points, 19 above the relegation zone.

"Richarlison, Cristian Romero , Solanke and Van de Ven are progressing well, with the idea that they can be ready for the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 against AZ Alkmaar and the Premier League match against Bournemouth," declared Ange Postecoglou, the Tottenham coach, in a press conference, which generated relief in the Argentina national team.

Cuti has not played since December 2024, when he was injured in Tottenham's 4-3 defeat to Chelsea - with a goal from Enzo Fernández -. The centre-back had to leave the field of play and it was later confirmed that he had suffered a tear in his quadriceps.