‘Grow up’ – Nicky Butt sends X-rated response to Lisandro Martinez as Paul Scholes opens up on historic argument

Ex-Manchester United star Nicky Butt told Lisandro Martinez to ‘f****** grow up’ as the defender’s war of words with club legends continued.

Speaking before the Red Devils’ 2-0 win over Manchester City on Saturday, Butt and fellow United icon Paul Scholes felt superstar striker Erling Haaland would treat Martinez like a ‘little toddler’.

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Scholes also joked Haaland would ‘throw him (Martinez) in the net’ after scoring.

However, Haaland failed to make a meaningful impact on the contest as Martinez helped United claim just their third Premier League clean sheet this season.

The World Cup winner clapped back at the criticism in the aftermath of United’s win, stating: “Honestly, he (Scholes) can say whatever he wants.

“I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to wherever he wants. To my house, wherever, I don’t care.”

Martinez added the United legends ‘can talk on the television, but when you see [them] here face-to-face, no one says anything in your face.’

In response to Martinez’s swipe, Scholes posted in an Instagram story on Sunday: “Someone’s had a good game, was really happy for you.”

Butt tells Martinez to ‘f****** grow up’

Now Butt has weighed in on Martinez’s post-match comments and although he acknowledged the Argentinian had done well to shackle Haaland, a performance like that should be considered the bare minimum for a Manchester derby.

“First and foremost, he was brilliant on the day and fair play to him,” Butt said on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast.

“He’s gone out and gone man-to-man against probably the best centre-forward in the world, possibly.

“Him and Harry [Maguire], to be fair, were brilliant, so we could come on here now and say, ‘Brilliant, well done.’

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“But that is what is expected from a Man United player on derby day.

“For me, we are a podcast, and we talk like three lads in a pub having a conversation, we are not on Sky doing commentary on a game.

“It is tongue in cheek, and it is quite obvious that Haaland is not gong to pick him up and run with him. It is f****** obvious. It is a figure of speech.

“I just think when someone gets so upset about someone in the media or on a podcast saying something about them, to come out and basically say they can say what they want and all that, f****** grow up.

“It is literally if you are going to get so emotional about someone saying something and come out and react like that, you shouldn’t be at a big football club because I am telling you now, he is going to get that for the rest of his career at Manchester United.

“You get your ups and downs and I got so much crap when I played at Man United and Newcastle, but then next week you get your plaudits and you get clapped at. There is no personal issue with us and Martinez. None.”

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Butt added: “He’s telling us to come knock on his house. I’m f****** 50 years of age, I’m not going knocking on someone’s house saying, ‘Can we have a chat?’

“It’s just ridiculous. And, if you’re going to get that precious, you better be s*** hot every week.”

Scholes lifts lid on DMs with Martinez

Along with Butt’s ruthless verdict, Scholes shed light on his tense exchange of messages with Martinez.

“Look, we exchanged messages on Instagram quite some time ago,” Scholes said.

“Yeah, he weren’t happy with something I said, I can’t remember what it was, and he just said that he lost all respect for me.

“I wouldn’t have said this normally, but he’s come out and said stuff, so why not? He said he lost all kinds of respect for me.

“When we got stick as players, you look at it and remember it. We used it as fuel, you don’t go answering back.”

Martinez will look to help United keep back-to-back clean sheets and stick it further to his detractors when the Red Devils return to action away to Arsenal on Sunday.