Manchester United star Lisandro Martinez has shared an emotionally charged message with Argentina fans after the 2022 World Cup champions’ 2-1 defeat to Colombia on Tuesday.
Lisandro Martinez and Manchester United teammate Alejandro Garnacho have been away from Old Trafford representing Argentina during the September break.
The 26-year-old United centre-back has become a key defensive figure for Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni after an impressive 2024 Copa America campaign in the summer.
Martinez was at the heart of defence alongside Tottenham centre-back Cristian Romero for Argentina’s successful Copa America title defence in the United States.
The United centre-back played out on the left of defence in Argentina’s 3-0 World Cup qualifier against Chile at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires last week.
Martinez featured for 79 minutes in the World Cup qualifying clash before Lionel Scaloni withdrew him for River Plate left-back Marcos Acuna.
Martinez’s message after Colombia defeat
Lisandro Martinez returned to the starting XI for the World Cup qualifier against Colombia and Lionel Scaloni’s men suffered defeat on the night.
Yerson Mosquera fired Colombia into a first-half lead at the Estadio Metropolitano before Nicolas Gonzalez pulled Argentina level only three minutes after the break.
However, Colombia restored their advantage in the second half after former Real Madrid star James Rodriguez beat Emiliano Martinez from the spot-kick.
Martinez was once again deployed out at left-back under Scaloni and the 2022 World Cup winner came off in the 64th minute and was replaced by Marcos Acuna.
The former Ajax star took to social media after the match and sent a clear-cut message to Argentina fans after dropping points to Colombia.
“Head held high! It wasn’t the result we came for, but we gave it our all,” he wrote on Instagram.
“See you in a few weeks!”
Former United player Angel Di Maria, who retired from international duty after the 2024 Copa America, was spotted in the comments of Martinez’s post.
“Vamos amigo,” he wrote, which translates from Spain to English as ‘Come on friend.’
Scaloni reacts to Argentina defeat
Following on from the result at the Estadio Metropolitano, Scaloni admitted that he was far from happy with Argentina’s response after Colombia’s penalty.
“If I speak, they’ll say we don’t know how to lose,” he said, as per Mundo Albiceleste.
“We congratulate Colombia. I think we played a good game, according to the circumstances. We gave our best at all times and we could have even won it.
“We don’t like to lose. After the penalty, we practically didn’t play. That’s what bothered me, that’s what I saw.
“Colombia has great players and a well-oiled system. It is extremely complex to play against them here. I think we had the chances to win it but we couldn’t do it.
“We always try to move behind the ball and be effective in the final meters, which we couldn’t do today. We have to correct the things we need to improve.”
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
