Football is a game of opinions. A point summed up pretty neatly by the differing views towards the Manchester United star’s display during Thursday’s 3-0 win.
While Alejandro Garnacho marked his seventh Argentina appearance with a first-ever assist – lauded by Albiceleste boss Lionel Scaloni for another promising cameo off the bench – Lisandro Martinez’s own display certainly split opinion.
Like he did in the Community Shield – Erik ten Hag forced into a defensive reshuffle due to the absences of Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia – Martinez started at left-back as the World champions got three easy points on the board in the qualification phase.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the former Ajax ace was not quite at his brilliant best on the night.
In their post-match player ratings, TYC Sports gave Martinez a 6/10. He is, they say, ‘more comfortable as a left centre-back than as a full-back’.
That, maybe, was to be expected.
- READ MORE: Who is Lisandro Martinez? Step inside the life of Manchester United’s tenacious Argentine
Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez starts in Argentina win
Martinez is far from a natural wideman, after all. In fact, that Wembley rematch against Pep Guardiola – who places the 26-year-old among the world’s top five centre-halves – was the first time in his Man United career that he had played on the left-hand flank.
But Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni is enthused – at least more enthused than the local press, anyway – by what he saw from Martinez in a new and still-unfamiliar role.
Shifted out to the wing with veteran Nicolas Otamendi back in the XI and taking the captain’s armband due to Lionel Messi’s absence, Scaloni enjoyed the balance and the ball-progression Martinez brought to the side even outside of his favoured role.
“Today, Lisandro gave us a good pass (out from the back),” Scaloni tells La Nacion. “Theoretically, we were not going to use the left back very much.
“(But) Licha played a good game in a place that is not his.”
Back to full fitness again after a traumatic 2023/24 campaign ruined by injury, Martinez has had a mixed start to the campaign, not helped by Erik ten Hag’s kamikaze tactics.
He remains, however, arguably the most integral member of this Man United team.
No other player at Ten Hag’s disposal is capable of breaking the lines like he can, Martinez the source for so many attacks with his piercing passes into the midfield.
The £47 million man also believes he has bounced back better than ever since those achilles and knee issues, comments that will be music to the ears of the Red Devils supporters who have taken him to their heart.
World Cup winner back after serious injury issues
“It is hard to repeatedly go through injuries because injuries destroy your head. They fill you with fear, with mistrust,” Martinez told La Nacion earlier in the week.
“Emotionally, everything is negative after the injuries. You become insecure, you stop believing in yourself, you don’t even walk well. You don’t know what will happen to you.
“I am one of those who think that things happen for a reason, always. Always. The injuries have improved me a lot. They made me a better person and a better player. A better professional.
“After everything I went through, today I feel very calm, very emotionally balanced. I felt that it was a goal that at some point I had to accomplish.”
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