Lisandro Martinez has revealed that he has to control his urge to try and ‘kill’ opponents on the football pitch ahead of Manchester United’s Carabao Cup final against Newcastle.
The Argentine World Cup winner has been one of the signings of the season and has been one of the Red Devils’ biggest success stories in what’s proving to be a memorable campaign. They have the chance to win their first piece of silverware since 2017 on Sunday.
Martinez was initially decried as too small to play as a centre-back in the Premier League – a notion amplified after being physically dominated in United’s opening two games of the season against Brighton and Brentford.
But in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Martinez insisted that he has never cared about opinions on his stature.
“To be honest, I put my full focus here. I can’t control that [what people say], you know, it’s just an opinion,” he said.
“I understand when people say that – they show me who they are, you know? It’s not my problem. I’m really happy, the people are happy with me as well. That’s the most important thing.
“In the beginning, in Argentina, it was the same. But it’s normal because, in football, it’s not normal to play as a centre-back with my height. It’s not easy as well, you know – you have to work very hard. You have to be very clever on the pitch, you have to be sharp in every situation but if you’re smart you can win the duels.
“It was a tough [start] for sure. The way we lose, the attitude was really bad. We spoke in the dressing room, we said everything [we had to]. We looked at…how do you say it?…the badge and said, ‘Guys, this is not possible. We have to change this’. Directly, we started to change everything – the energy, in the training, fighting. And then we showed another spirit, another energy, another [level of] team work.”
Martinez has become a success in England due to his aggressive style, though when asked if he has trouble trying to control himself sometimes, he grinned with mischief.
Yeah, it is hard…it is really hard,” he said. “Sometimes I want to kill but you have to control as well.”
