Paul Scholes says he will not apologise after mocking Man United defender Lisandro Martinez as their war of words intensifies.
Scholes and his former United team-mate Nicky Butt joked on their podcast ahead of United’s derby win that Martinez’s battle with Erling Haaland was such a mismatch that the Man City striker would pick up Martinez and throw him in the back of the net.
However, 5ft 9in Martinez helped to shut out 6ft 5in Haaland in the impressive 2-0 victory, after which the Argentine defender challenged the pair to visit his house and repeat the comments face-to-face.
Butt showed no signs of cooling tensions as he told the defender to ‘f***ing grow up’ on the latest episode of the show on Monday.
And Scholes has now vowed he will not say sorry to Martinez, instead urging him to ‘deal with’ the criticism that comes with being a United player.
‘What we said probably wasn’t great when you look back. I’m not apologising for it though,’ Scholes said on the latest episode of The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet.
‘The thing we were trying to say was what we thought. Physically, it’s a mismatch [between Martínez and Haaland], but the way we described it wasn’t great and we probably shouldn’t have done that, but it was.
‘He’s had one good game though. I hope to God he proves me wrong but look at the week before against Brighton and Danny Welbeck, or the week before that against Burnley.’
Scholes also hit back at suggestions he and Butt had fed into a ‘toxic’ narrative around the club.
‘A lot of people have labelled that at me and Nicky [Butt] for the last few days,’ the United legend said.
‘It’s not something we like doing, we want to see the team winning every single week. When I played and when Jamie [Carragher] played, you did get a bit of criticism. It’s more so now than it ever has been that people are speaking their mind, and you’ve got to deal with it.
‘You’re at one of the biggest clubs in the world, and you are going to take a little bit of criticism at the time, especially when it’s not going as well as it could do.’
After keeping a clean sheet against City last Saturday, Martinez challenged the pair to repeat their remarks to his face.
‘Honestly, [Scholes] can say whatever he wants,’ the Argentine said. ‘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 respect 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.’
Scholes and Butt both laughed on their podcast last week when Butt joked: ‘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 jibed: ‘He’d score, then throw him in the net!’
The United heroes then addressed the feud on their latest episode of the podcast, where Butt branded Martinez as ‘precious’.
He said: ‘For me, we talk like lads in a pub having a conversation. It’s tongue in cheek. ‘I think when people get so upset about someone in the media or on a podcast … saying ‘come to my house’, it’s like f***ing grow up.’
‘If you’re going to get so emotional about someone saying something about you and react like that, you shouldn’t be at a big football club,’ he added.
‘I’m telling you now he’s gonna get that for the rest of his career at Man United. You’re going to get get your ups, you’re going to get your downs. I got so much c**p when I played at Man United and Newcastle but then the next week you get applauded.’
Scholes also revealed that he and Martinez had previously exchanged Instagram messages, where the United defender said he had ‘lost all respect’ for Scholes after comments he previously made.
‘We exchanged messages on Instagram quite some time ago,’ Scholes said. ‘He wasn’t happy with something I said in the past. It wouldn’t have said this normally but he’s come out and said stuff so why not.
‘He said he’d lost all kinds of respect for me. As Nicky said two minutes ago, you’re at Man United, probably the biggest club in the world. At some point, as we did as players, you are gonna take some criticism. You’ve got to deal with that.’
‘He’s had one brilliant game,’ Scholes added. ‘When you start talking or shouting your mouth off, this game has a habit of coming and biting you back on the a**e. I haven’t changed my opinion yet. I’m still not sure that you can win a league with him. He’s got to do it over a period of time.
‘What he did on Saturday was brilliant, yes, but you’ve got to do that now over a period of time to show you can win the league. They’ve got a big game at Arsenal on Sunday, so let’s see what happens.’
Scholes also says he has previously sent Martinez his phone number and hasn’t been contacted by him after the defender urged them to see him face-to-face.
‘I’m 50 years of age, I’m not going knocking on someone’s house saying ‘can we have a chat’,’ Butt added.
‘It’s just ridiculous… and if you’re going to get that precious you better be s**t hot every week.’
