Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Saturday, September 21, 2024 at 4:17 p.m.
Geronimo Rulli lives up to his name and is afraid of nothing, not even coming to the aid of Emiliano Martinez.
In an interview with our colleagues at L’Equipe, Geronimo Rulli returned to the criticism, even the hatred, that his colleague and compatriot Argentinian Emiliano Martinez has been the object of in France, since the 2022 World Cup final won by the Albiceleste against Les Bleus (3-3 aet, pen: 4-2). “He’s a very good person,” assures the OM recruit about “Dibu”: “I’m very good friends with him, we have a great relationship and I understand very well what he provokes in others. But if you really know him, he’s a great person. When it comes to competition, he wants to win and he will do everything possible to beat you.”
“We felt some hostility, but we love it!”
Regarding his approach to penalty kicks, which is part of the much-maligned character of Emiliano Martinez, Rulli explains that he has his “own routine” and that he would not be able to do the same thing as the man who is also his partner in the national team, who notably tried to destabilize Kylian Mbappé in Qatar by moving in a strange way: “It’s not that I don’t like it, but at that moment I think of something else. We study penalty kicks a lot, and before this final, nothing was down to chance. We had trained a lot.”
Also goalkeeper for the Olympic team during the fiery France-Argentina in Bordeaux (1-0), in the quarter-finals of Paris 2024, Rulli loves this rivalry that has become “a classic”: “We felt hostility in the stadium, but we love it! I would be lying to you if I said it bothers us. No, it motivates us.” Revealed at Real Sociedad before joining Montpellier during the 2019-2020 season, where the French public discovered him in Ligue 1, Rulli then spent three years at Villarreal and then last season at Ajax Amsterdam, before replacing Pau Lopez as OM’s number 1 goalkeeper.
