Emiliano Martinez has revealed the true story behind his real first name.
Official documents state the Arsenal goalkeeper’s first name as Damian rather than Emiliano.
And he explained: ‘My name was actually going to be Emiliano Damian on my Argentinian ID but when my mum went to do it in the post office, I don’t know where she done it, she was waiting hours and hours in the queue and when they done it they put Damian Emiliano first.
‘To do it again she would have to wait two, three hours so she went ‘it’s ok, just do it like that, we’re going to call him Emi anyway.’
‘So my name was always going to be Emiliano Damian but obviously when I signed here everyone was always calling me Damian because it was my first name.
‘It was a bit confusing but now everyone calls me Emi.
‘Damian used to be my grandad’s middle name. My mum [originally] wanted just two names - Emiliano Martinez - but because my grandad passed away before I was born she wanted to put Damian in between the two names to have my grandad’s name, nothing else.’
He also confirmed his insistence on Emiliano was nothing to do with any mickey taking while he was in Arsenal’s academy about having a similar name to a fictional character called Damien, who is the son of the devil in the film The Omen.
‘No, no, that’s not true,’ Martinez cleared up. ‘Not true at all.’