Lisandro Martinez has hit back at comments by Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt mocking his size, and dared the former Manchester United duo to repeat them to his face.
Scholes and Butt joked on their podcast ahead of the 198th Manchester derby that Martinez’s battle with Erling Haaland was such a mis-match that the 6ft 5in City striker would pick up the 5ft 9in United defender and throw him in the back of the net.
There was laughter on the podcast as Butt said: ‘Haaland would pick Martinez up and run with him. It’ll be like, you know, when you see a dad after school running down the road with a little toddler. That’s what it’d be like.’
Scholes added scornfully: ‘He’d score, then throw him in the net!’
United ran out clear 2-0 winners in Michael Carrick’s first game as head coach, and Martinez helped to shut out Haaland so comprehensively that the Norwegian was substituted in the 80th minute.
Afterwards, the tough Argentine defender criticised the pair for comments he claims they would never make in person when they see him around the club, and challenged them to visit his house to repeat them face-to-face.
Martinez was asked specifically about Scholes, and indicated that he has already made his feelings known to the former United star.
‘Honestly, he can say whatever he wants,’ said the 28-year-old. ‘I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to me wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don’t care.
‘I think, for me, I respect the relations when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on the television. But when you see (them) here face-to-face, no one says anything in your face.
‘So I don’t really care what they say. I just put the focus on my performance, the performance of the team and I give everything to this club until my last day.
‘People always say whatever they want, it’s something that I can’t control. What I can only do is to show on the pitch and I think today I showed it.
‘Imagine we have to think what people say. We have to be focused for the rest of this club. We want to change this situation and we are the only ones who can change it.’
Asked if the comments gave him extra motivation, he replied: ‘No, nothing. It doesn’t give me anything. My motivation is my family, that’s it.’
Martinez also paid tribute to Carrick who only took charge three days before the game, but was able to get a performance out of United that seemed beyond his predecessor Ruben Amorim.
‘Different mentality, different guy. So different,’ added Martinez. ‘He knows what this club really means.
‘He sent us the that message that he played here for a long, long time. He won everything. He is a big legend. He wants to help the club and I think we were in a tough situation, and today was the best moment to change that.
‘When you have a coach like Michael Carrick, who really knows, who really can share with you the energy of the club and what it means, it’s so different.
‘He was quiet (in training). He was smiling. He was really confident – and that helps a lot.’
Goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu gave United a deserved win after they had three more efforts from Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount ruled out for offside. Harry Maguire and Diallo also hit the woodwork.
‘I think we deserved to win this game,’ said Martinez. ‘We were better on the pitch and I think we gave everything. And when you give everything and you see the result, it’s an amazing feeling.
‘For me, I don’t put focus on the result. I just put focus on the performance, the connection with the people, the connection with the team.
‘It’s about how we represent them on the pitch. If they see us fighting like today, they will be with us.
‘If sometimes our performance wasn’t the best, because they expect a good attitude from us – tackles, the DNA, the blood of Manchester United – and I can really understand because sometimes it’s like “what are we doing here?”. Today is the standard for this club.
‘I don’t think they had a shot on goal today. Well, just one. And you can feel the mentality. You can feel something different. I’m happy with that.’
Martinez was helped by starting alongside Maguire in central defence for the first time in almost a year after the Argentine recovered from a long-term knee injury and his teammate made his first start since early November.
‘I’ve known him for a long time and we speak a lot,’ said Martinez. ‘Today we had really good communication on the pitch, but not just only with ‘H’. The team today was different.’
