Martinez Fires Back at Scholes After Stunning Derby Display Silences Critics

The Manchester Derby produced the perfect riposte to pre-match sniping, with Lisandro Martinez's commanding display against Erling Haaland serving as a timely reality check for his doubters.

United's Argentine defender turned in a brilliant performance as the Reds dismantled their neighbours 2-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday, with Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu getting on the scoresheet. It was a result that rather forcefully addressed the question marks raised in the build-up.

Paul Scholes had been particularly vocal beforehand, questioning whether Martinez possessed the physical attributes to handle Haaland. Alongside him, Nicky Butt painted a colourful picture of the contest, suggesting the Norwegian would "pick Martinez up and run with him" like "a dad after school running down the road with a little toddler". Scholes himself quipped that Haaland would "score, then throw him in the net".

Cue one thoroughly professional ninety minutes from the man in question.

Post-match, Martinez made his feelings abundantly clear. "No, honestly, he can say whatever he wants," the defender responded to the jabs. "I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don't care."

The exchange between the two didn't end there. Scholes, seemingly impressed by what he'd witnessed, took to Instagram to extend an olive branch of sorts: "Someone's had a good game. Was really happy for you… Tea, no sugar pls."

Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football, Scholes attempted to contextualise his pre-match commentary, insisting the remarks had been delivered with tongue firmly in cheek. "I think the point we were trying to make was that, physically, they are a mismatch," he explained. "Look, possibly we could have worded it better, I don't know. It doesn't sound brilliant when you watch it back but we're just having a laugh about it."

However, Scholes went on to reveal that tensions between the pair run deeper than just this week's banter. The Manchester United legend disclosed that Martinez had previously slid into his Instagram DMs, expressing his displeasure. "We exchanged messages on Instagram quite some time ago," Scholes recounted. "He wasn't happy with something I said in the past. I can't remember what it was. He just said that he'd lost all respect for me."

The former midfielder suggested Martinez needed to develop thicker skin. "You're at Manchester United, probably the biggest club in the world, and at some point, as we did as players, you are going to take some criticism and you've got to deal with that," Scholes said. "I don't remember Becks fighting back."

Yet for all his praise of Saturday's performance, Scholes remains unconvinced about Martinez's long-term prospects at Old Trafford. "He's had one brilliant game and when you start talking and shouting your mouth off, this game has a habit of coming and biting you back on the arse," he warned. "I haven't changed my opinion yet. I'm still not sure that you can win a league with him and he's got to do it over a period of time."

Butt, meanwhile, proved rather less willing to extend an apology. While acknowledging Martinez's excellence against arguably Europe's finest centre-forward, the former midfielder was less sympathetic to any notion that criticism should be off-limits. "For me, we're podcasters and we talk like three lads in a pub having a conversation," Butt said. "It's tongue in cheek, it's quite obvious that Haaland's not going to pick him up and run with him."

Butt's frustration appeared to centre on what he perceived as oversensitivity. "When someone gets so upset about someone in the media or on a podcast saying something about them, to come out and start basically saying that they can do what they want… it's like grow up!" he declared. "If you're going to get so emotional about someone saying something about you, and come out and react like that, you shouldn't be at a big football club because he's going to get that for the rest of his career at Manchester United."

The former Newcastle midfielder stressed there was no personal animosity involved. "There's no personal issue with us with Martinez. None," Butt insisted. "You're going to get your ups and downs. I got so much crap when I played at Manchester United and Newcastle but then the next week you get your plaudits."

United's next examination arrives this Sunday, when they travel to face Arsenal—a fixture that will provide a rather more telling indicator of whether Saturday's display represents a genuine shift or merely a one-off flourish.