Reason Aston Villa's ex-Sheffield Wednesday man was not sent off despite getting two yellows explained

The Midlands side equalised late through Matty Cash to lose 2-1 on the night in France, though that took the aggregate scoreline to 3-3 and with the away goals rule having long since been eradicated from European football the tie to extra-time and then penalties.

Argentine World Cup winner Martinez, who kept two clean sheets in 15 appearances for the Owls while on loan from Arsenal during the 2013/14 season and was regularly kept out of the side by Chris Kirkland, has become something of a controversy magnet in recent years after celebrating ‘inappropriately’ after being handed the Golden Glove at the Qatar World Cup.

He was yellow carded in the first half of Villa’s epic on Wednesday evening. When he was shown another during the penalty shootout for goading home supporters, most believed he would be sent off, sparking confusion as to the ruling over whether an outfield player would have to step up with the gloves.

However, a little-known four-year-old law change means that yellow cards are effectively wiped off at the final whistle of matches and so Martinez did not get his marching orders.

IFAB law 10 (determining the outcome of a match) states: 'Warnings and cautions (YCs) issued during the match (including during extra time) are not carried forward into kicks from the penalty mark (KFPM).

‘A player who receives a YC during both the match and the KFPM is not sent off.'

The reason why the law was changed was expertly explained by Wednesday fan and football laws guru Dale Johnson, a football journalist and editor of ESPN FC. He posted on Twitter/X: “This was changed in the Laws of the Game for the 2020-21 season, so it's been around for 4 seasons. It followed a change which said a keeper needed one foot on or above the line. Booked if they broke this twice. Wiping yellows intended to reduce the chance of a red for this.”