Manchester United will welcome back two Copa America winners to pre-season as Alejandro Garnacho and Lisandro Martinez’s Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 in the final to secure the title.
In a tense, hard-fought match that was postponed due to crowd interruptions, Argentina held their nerve to win in extra time to retain the title.
While Garnacho didn’t take to the field for the final, Lisandro Martinez was massive as always as Argentina were put under tremendous pressure, especially late on when Colombia sought to equalise.
- READ MORE: Who is Lisandro Martinez? Step inside the life of Manchester United’s tenacious Argentine
Here’s how the Argentine media reacted to his marvelous defensive display-
Argentine media reacts to Lisandro Martinez’s performance
Martinez’s maverick defensive display was never going to be unnoticed by the journalists back in his home and that proved to be the case.
Nearly every outlet gave a glowing review to the Argentine defender. One of those, Ole, rated him 9/10 and wrote: “Solid defensively, he won many duels, reaffirming his strong bond with Cuti (Christian Romero.
“Suffered a bit from the lack of passing options when coming out from the back. Made a tremendous cross in the end when Borja was facing the goal.”
Another outlet, Pagina12, echoed similar sentiments, particularly praising his front-foot defending where he swept up everything in front of him.
They wrote: “He responded effectively when Colombia advanced through his area and successfully covered the spaces in front after the arrivals of Arias and Córdoba. When he moved forward to anticipate an opponent, he did so with success.”
Finally, Lavoz gave him credit for supporting his struggling teammate Nicolas Tagliafico and effectively shutting down the left flank due to his proactive defence. They wrote: “He had to support Tagliafico a lot and raised his level massively in the second half, in particular.”
Analysing Martinez’s performance in the final
It was an all-action display from the center-back, where he had to put aside his usually brilliant ball-playing skills in favour of a more robust and old-school style of defending.
As the game became frantic and the legs were tired, only keeping the ball out of the net became the priority and Martinez’s traditional skills came to the fore.
He finished the game with six clearances, two blocked shots, and three interceptions as he had only 43 touches of the ball throughout the 120 minutes of play.
More importantly for United, he came through this intense two hours of play unscathed, which could soothe fears over his fitness. He has never been an injury-prone player aside from a freak last season and Copa America should only strengthen that argument.
As United get closer to securing a new partner for him in Matthijs de Ligt, the future looks bright for the United defence after a nightmare last season where a new pairing took to the field in seemingly every game.
For now, Martinez will revel in the glory and the club will hope that he and Garnacho bring along that wave of momentum and confidence back to the club.
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