Walter Benítez saves two penalties, leads Crystal Palace into next round | OneFootball

The Argentine Benitez became a hero by saving two penalties that gave Crystal Palace the qualification to continue their journey in the EFL Cup. Meanwhile, Aston Villa suffered from the absence of Emiliano Martinez and fell from the 12 steps against Brentford.

In his debut in the goal for Crystal Palace, Walter Benitez saved two penalties in the shootout, giving his team a pass to the fourth round of the English League Cup. The London team faced Milwall (from the Second Division) in the third round of the competition and, although the result was 1-1 after 90 minutes, it was in the decisive stage where the great performance of the Argentine appeared.

The former Quilmes player arrived in the last market from PSV in the Netherlands and was able to get minutes only this Tuesday with the current FA Cup champion. On the field, he had two saves. However, it was in the shootout where he showed his class and demonstrated why he is a regular in Lionel Scaloni's call-ups for the Argentina National Team.

Walter Benitez's saves for Crystal Palace He saved the first shot of the shootout from Tristan Crama. The Milwall captain shot weakly and the goalkeeper dove to his right to save the shot. The second penalty he saved (the fourth of the shootout) was the one that gave his team the qualification: Aidomo Emakhu could not miss and executed strongly and in the middle, but Walter Benitez guessed his intention.

The happiness of Walter Benitez after his great debut in Crystal Palace

At the end of the match (where he was chosen as the star) the goalkeeper did not hide his happiness after successfully completing his first game at the English club: "I am very happy because I have not played for a long time. For me, this is like a gift".

He also thanked the fans for their support, acknowledged that the match was special because it was a clash between neighboring clubs in the south of the city of London, and assured that the team was very happy with the result.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.