Of all the Manchester United players playing for their national team, the Argentina contingent has had the best time of it, with Lionel Scaloni’s men rarely losing.
They won back-to-back major tournaments with the World Cup and the Copa America this summer so any loss is a major headline.
Unfortunately for Lisandro Martinez, that loss arrived away to Colombia, just four days before he is set to resume United duties against Southampton.
The 2-1 loss will sting hard as it was against their closest rivals in the league table for World Cup qualifiers.
Here’s how Lisandro Martinez performed on the day-
Lisandro Martinez stats vs Colombia
Martinez played 64 minutes and had more contribution going forward than he did in defence, not really a good sign for a defender.
He had just 30 touches of the ball and completed 18 out of his 19 attempted passes, numbers far removed from his usual mastery in possession.
Colombia harried and pressed Argentina hard, buoyed by the home advantage and that seemed to unsettle a number of Argentina players.
However, Martinez still showed courage in invention during his limited time with the ball. He had two touches in the opposition box as he completed both his dribbles and long balls.
Most importantly, he had a last-man tackle that saved Argentina’s blushes in a game they would already go on to lose 2-1.
Overall, Manchester United would be most happy with the fact that he played just over 60 minutes instead of the whole game.
The turnaround from this game to United’s next is not much and Erik ten Hag is in must-win territory so he needs Martinez on top form.
Argentina media on Lisandro Martinez vs Colombia
The press in his country was more understanding of his troubles since he was playing as a wide centre-back, on the left side of a back three.
They pointed out his mistake for Colombia’s first goal when he was exposed vs Mosquera and summed it up as an all-around average game from his usual high standards.
TyC Sports rated him at 5/10, saying he failed to make progress in attack and suffered in defence, especially in the air.
Ole were slightly more generous, giving him 5.5/10, echoing the sentiment of his mistake for the first goal but praising his moments of composure in possession.
La Nacion praised the overall defensive effort of the team, marking out his teammate Emiliano Martinez in particular, and said that one loss doesn’t effect the overall quality of the team.
Argentina will play Venezuela and Bolivia in their next international round of fixtures in October but before that, Lisandro Martinez will be needed by United as Carabao Cup and Europa League will begin in September.
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