Paul Scholes accepts Lisandro Martinez’s face-to-face talks invite after Man United star hits out

Lisandro Martinez has hit back at comments from Manchester United legends Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

Ahead of the Manchester derby on Saturday, the duo on their podcast, The Good, The Bad & The Football mocked the Argentine.

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In the brief exchange, Butt joked that Erling Haaland would pick Martinez up.

He said: “Haaland would pick Martinez up and run with him. It’ll be like, you know, when you see a dad after school running down the road with a little toddler. That’s what it’d be like.”

Scholes added: “He’d score, then throw him in the net!”

The joke centered around the fact that Haaland is 6ft 5 and Martinez is 5ft 9.

But he, along with all of his teammates, were brilliant as they produced one of the best Man United displays in years to seal a huge three points against their inner-city rivals in Michael Carrick‘s first match as interim manager.

They won 2-0, but it could and should have been so much more.

Haaland didn’t even play the full 90 minutes as he was taken off in the 80th minute, much to his bemusement on an afternoon to forget for City.

Ultimately, they weren’t punished too much in the Premier League title race because Arsenal only managed a 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest.

However, this was a massive win for the Red Devils, and Martinez played his part.

And he was asked after the game about the pair’s comments and didn’t hold back.

He said: “Honestly, he [Scholes] can say whatever he wants.

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

“I think, for me, I respect the relations when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on the television. But when you see (them) here face-to-face, no one says anything in your face.

“So, I don’t really care what they say. I just put the focus on my performance, the performance of the team, and I give everything to this club until my last day.

“People always say whatever they want, it’s something that I can’t control. What I can only do is to show on the pitch, and I think today, I showed it.

“Imagine, we have to think what people say. We have to be focused for the rest of this club. We want to change this situation and we are the only ones who can change it.”

Scholes has since responded on Instagram.

He said: “Someone’s had a good game, was really happy for you…Tea, no sugar pls @lisandromartinezzz.”

This is the latest in an ongoing beef between the two.

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Point proven

Martinez didn’t say anything about the Scholes or Butt comments until after the match.

Instead, he allowed his football to do the talking and delivered.

In fairness, everyone in red did, and it was the perfect start for Carrick.

Equally, it’s hard to feel as if Butt and Scholes were being genuinely serious about their comments.

They are laughing throughout the whole thing.

But Scholes has had beef with Martinez in the past, with the former England icon believing that he isn’t good enough to win the Premier League.

In response, the centre-back said that Scholes couldn’t play in Argentina, as he wouldn’t be tough enough.

Clearly, this latest comment has irritated Martinez because he’s unlikely to have even mentioned it if it didn’t.

The key from here will be to ensure that this doesn’t cause any more problems and disrupt what was a perfect start for Carrick and Man United.