Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has provided an added layer of context to his back-and-forth with Lisandro Martinez, revealing how the defender once messaged him to say he had ‘lost all respect’ for him as a pundit.
Scholes has been a vocal critic of Martinez for much of the centre-back’s three-and-a-half year stay at Old Trafford and once again took aim at the Argentinian before Saturday’s Manchester derby.
Previewing the match on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, the ex-United midfielder questioned Martinez’s ability to mark Erling Haaland, making jokes about his size and stature alongside former team-mate Nicky Butt.
Butt jested that City’s talismanic centre-forward ‘would pick Martinez up and run with him’ like a ‘dad after school running down the road with a little toddler’, before Scholes added that ‘he would score then throw him in the net’.
However, in response, Martinez helped shut out Haaland with one his finest performances yet in a United shirt as the Red Devils ran out shock 2-0 victors over their bitter city rivals in Michael Carrick’s opening match in charge.
In the immediate aftermath of United’s Old Trafford win, Martinez took the opportunity to issue a reply to Scholes, telling the former England international he ‘didn’t care’ about his scathing remarks.
‘No, honestly, he can say whatever he wants,’ Martinez said.
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‘I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don’t care.’
Twenty-four hours on from United’s victory, Scholes took to Instagram to tell Martinez he was ‘really happy’ for him and that he accepted his invitation.
‘Someone’s had a good game. Was really happy for you… Tea, no sugar pls,’ he wrote.
Now, in the first episode of the The Good, The Bad & The Football since the derby, Scholes has tried to calm the situation, admitting that his ‘tongue in cheek’ comments ‘could have been worded better’.
‘It’s very much tongue in cheek, everything we talk about,’ Scholes – an 11-time Premier League winner with United – said.
‘I think the point we were trying to make was that, physically, they [Martinez and Haaland] are a mismatch.
‘Look, possibly we could have worded it better, I don’t know. It doesn’t sound brilliant when you watch it back but we’re just having a laugh about it.
‘If it was about you then you probably would be upset, but you’ve got to give him credit as he was brilliant on the day.’
Scholes lifted the lid on a previous interaction he had with Martinez on Instagram, in which the Argentina international gave him a piece of his mind.
‘We exchanged messages on Instagram quite some time ago,’ Scholes explained.
‘He wasn’t happy with something I said in the past. I can’t remember what it was. He just said that he’d lost all respect for me.
‘I wouldn’t have said this normally but he’s come out and said stuff so why not? He said he had lost all kinds of respect for me.
‘You’re at Manchester United, probably the biggest club in the world, and at some point, as we did as players, you are going to take some criticism and you’ve got to deal with that.
‘You’re going to have to deal with that. I don’t remember Becks [David Beckham] fighting back.
Though pleased to see Martinez perform in the way he did, Scholes is yet to be convinced that the diminutive defender has what it takes to help steer United to major silverware.
‘It [criticism] fuels you and I think we have to take a bit of credit for Martinez’s performance!’ he joked.
‘But do you know what? He’s had one brilliant game and when you start talking and shouting your mouth off, this game has a habit of coming and biting you back on the arse.
‘Look, I haven’t changed my opinion yet. I’m still not sure that you can win a league with him and 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 over a period of time to show you can win the league.
‘They’ve got a big game at Arsenal on Sunday so we’ll see what happens.’
Butt appeared a little less apologetic surrounding the remarks he made about Martinez, telling the ex-Ajax man to ‘f***ing grow up’ and get used to being criticised in the media.
‘First and foremost, he was brilliant on the day and fair play to him,’ Butt said of Martinez.
‘He’s gone out and he’s gone man-to-man against probably the best centre-forward in Europe, in the world possibly. Him and Harry [Kane] to be fair.
‘He was brilliant so we’ll come on here now and go, “Brilliant, well done! Everyone has done really great”, but that’s what is to be expected as a Manchester United player on a derby day. But brilliant, he’s done really well.
‘For me, we’re podcasters and we talk like three lads in a pub having a conversation. We’re not on Sky doing commentary on a game.
‘It’s tongue in cheek, it’s quite obvious that Haaland’s not going to pick him up and run with him. It’s f***ing obvious, that. It’s figure of speech.
‘I just think when someone gets so upset about someone in the media or on a podcast saying something about them, to come out and start basically saying that they can do what they want and doing that [making gestures] after the game and saying to come to his house… it’s like f***ing grow up!
‘If you’re going to get so emotional about someone saying something about you, and come out and react like that, you shouldn’t be at a big football club because I’m telling you now: he’s going to get that for the rest of his career at Manchester United.’
Butt stressed that neither he or Scholes had a ‘personal issue’ with Martinez and both ultimately wanted the defender to do well.
‘You’re going to get your ups and downs. I got so much crap when I played at Manchester United and Newcastle but then the next week you get your plaudits,’ he continued.
‘There’s no personal issue with us with Martinez. None.’
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