Martinez parades goalkeeper awards and justifies them with wonder save for Villa in Champions League

Emi Martinez began the night by walking onto the field with his children and parading a pair of trophies for being the world’s best goalkeeper for the last two years.

He finished it by producing an astonishing save that vindicated those awards.

The Argentina international illuminated a 0-0 draw between his Aston Villa team and Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday by plucking the ball from behind him and scooping it off the goal line to deny Francisco Conceição what could have been the winner.

Replays showed the ball was almost entirely over the line before Martinez hooked it clear, and the goalkeeper was quickly congratulated by his teammates.

No save by Martinez will ever beat the one he pulled off for Argentina in the last seconds of extra time in the 2022 World Cup final, denying France striker Randal Kolo Muani and keeping teammate Lionel Messi’s dream alive of finally winning soccer’s biggest prize.

He might just have run it close.

It was fitting he produced his wonder save against Juve on the night he showed off the two Yashin Trophies he claimed at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in each of the past two years. The most recent one came last month.

As for Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio, he finished the game relieved that what appeared to be a mistake in the final seconds of stoppage time didn't cost his team.

Di Gregorio spilled a cross under pressure from Villa defender Diego Carlos and Morgan Rogers was there to poke the ball into the net.

A goal was awarded by the on-field referee but after a two-minute check, it was ruled out for a foul on Di Gregorio by Carlos.

“I think it was soft," Villa striker Ollie Watkins said. “Maybe in the Premier League it’s a goal. But in Europe the goalkeepers are protected a lot.”

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Aston Villa's Diego Carlos battles for the ball with Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio during the UEFA Champions League opening phase soccer stage match at Villa Park, Birmingham, England, Wednesday Nov. 27, 2024. (David Davies/PA via AP)

Juventus players leave the pitch after the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Astin Villa and Juventus at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024.(AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

Aston Villa's Diego Carlos battles for the ball with Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio during the UEFA Champions League opening phase soccer stage match at Villa Park, Birmingham, England, Wednesday Nov. 27, 2024. (David Davies/PA via AP)

A general view as pyrotechnics are set off during pre-match entertainment before the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Astin Villa and Juventus at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (David Davies/PA via AP)

Aston Villa fans hola a banner before the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Astin Villa and Juventus at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024.(AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez makes a save on Juventus' Francisco Conceicao during the UEFA Champions League opening phase soccer stage match at Villa Park, Birmingham, England, Wednesday Nov. 27, 2024. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Aston Villa's goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez talks to his players during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Astin Villa and Juventus at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024.(AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials finalized a recovery plan for imperiled populations of Canada lynx on Wednesday and proposed new habitat protections in the southern Rocky Mountains for the forest-dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change.

The fate of the proposal is uncertain under President-elect Donald Trump: Officials during the Republican's first term sought unsuccessfully to strip lynx of protections that they've had since 2000 under the Endangered Species Act.

Almost 7,700 square miles (20,000 square miles) of forests and mountains in Colorado and northern New Mexico are covered under the habitat proposal. That's different from a previous plan that left out the southern Rockies and concentrated instead on recovery efforts elsewhere, including Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota and Maine.

“This is a significant change and a good one,” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney for Western Environmental Law Center who has been involved in efforts to protect lynx through court actions. “They weren't really committing to conserve lynx in Colorado anymore, and now they are.”

Areas of protected habitat also are being added in Idaho and Montana. Protected areas in Wyoming would be sharply reduced under Wednesday's proposal.

Wildlife officials said they were removing locations where they consider lynx unlikely to thrive in the future, while adding new areas that the latest science suggests are more suitable to their long-term survival.

Lynx are elusive animals that live in cold boreal forests and prey primarily on snowshoe hares.

They originally received federal protections because the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management didn't have sufficient regulations in place to shield their populations from potential harm. Those protective rules are now in place, but climate change has emerged as a new, worsening threat.

Warmer temperatures are melting away the lynx's snowy habitat and could decrease the availability of snowshoe hares. Declines for lynx are expected across the contiguous U.S. under even the most optimistic warming scenario that officials have considered.

Most areas suitable for lynx are in Canada and Alaska, where the animals are widespread and hunting and trapping of them is allowed.

Their numbers never were great in the contiguous U.S., which is at the southern fringe of the species range, but the hope is to maintain some population strongholds so they can persist in a warmer world.

The changes announced Wednesday follow a 2016 court ruling that faulted federal wildlife officials for not designating protections for lynx habitat in Colorado and some parts of Montana and Idaho.

There are more than 1,100 lynx in the contiguous U.S., according to estimates from scientists. Those numbers are expected to plummet in some areas, and officials are aiming for a minimum contiguous U.S. population of a combined 875 lynx over a 20-year period.

More than 200 lynx were reintroduced in Colorado beginning in 1999 and at the time their prospects were considered uncertain.

“There were concerns about whether it would stick," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lynx biologist Jim Zelenak. “But they do seem to be hanging on”

Now that area could become one of the future population strongholds, with the southern Rockies in Colorado and the region around Yellowstone National Park are most likely to have temperatures favorable to lynx for the longest time, he said.

Maine has the most lynx currently but is expected to be hit harder by climate change.

“We’ve got this overarching threat of climate warming, and so we want to do everything we can to minimize the effects that we can control," Zelenak said. “So we don’t want to put roads in the wrong places. We don’t want to permanently convert very much of the habitat at all in the hopes that we can keep these populations viable coming into a warming future.”

Habitat protections in Maine and Minnesota would remain unchanged under the proposal.

A final decision is expected late next year.

FILE - A Canada lynx heads into the Rio Grande National Forest after being released near Creede, Colo., April 19, 2005. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)