Lisandro Martinez has revealed that he has to overcome his urge to try to ‘kill’ opponents on the football pitch ahead of Manchester United’s Carabao Cup final against Newcastle.
Argentina’s World Cup winner has been one of the signatures of the season and has been one of the Red Devils’ biggest success stories in what is proving to be a memorable campaign. They have a chance to win their first piece of silverware since 2017 on Sunday.
Martinez was initially deemed too small to play as a centre-back in the Premier League – a view that emerged after United’s physical dominance in the opening two games of the season against Brighton and Brentford.
But in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Martinez insisted he never cared about opinions about his height.
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“Honestly, I’ve put my full attention here. I can’t control it [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, people are happy with me. That’s the most important thing.
“At the beginning, in Argentina, it was like that. But it’s normal because, in football, it’s not normal to play as a center back with your height. It’s not that easy either, you know – You have to work very hard. You have to be very smart on the pitch, you have to be fast in every situation but if you are smart you can win duels.
“It was a tough one [start] Indeed. The way we lost, the attitude was really bad. We talked in the dressing room, we said everything [we had to]. We looked at the…how do you say this?…seed and said, ‘Guys, it’s not possible. We have to change that.” Immediately, we began to change everything – energy, training, fighting. And then we showed another passion, another energy, another [level of] Teamwork.”
Martinez has been successful in England because of his aggressive style, although when asked if he sometimes had trouble controlling himself, he smiled mischievously.
Yeah, it’s hard… it’s really hard,” he said. “Sometimes I want to hit but you also have to control.”