The debate over the Manchester United legend vs. the current players has been going on for some time, and Lisandro Martinez called out Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes for their comments earlier this month. The former midfielder has now made a fresh claim after being asked if he was apologizing for it.
Paul Scholes Doubles Down on Comments on Man United Star
Man United faced Manchester City last week, and ahead of the match, Butt and Scholes previewed the derby on their podcast, “The Good, The Bad & The Football”. They joked that Erling Haaland would breeze past Lisandro Martinez, comparing the Argentine defender to a toddler.
Butt made a cheeky comment, saying that the Man City striker would carry the Red Devils star like a father running to school with his child in his arms. He said, “Haaland would score then throw him in the net. Haaland would pick Martínez up and run with him. You know when you see a dad at school running down the road with a little toddler.”
The legendary duo were convinced that their former side had no chance in the game, but Michael Carrick’s side surprised everyone and won 2-0. Martinez spoke to the media after the match and hit out at the two legends for their comments.
Scholes was on The Overlap Fan Debate this week when he admitted that the comment crossed a line. Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher was quick to ask, “Are you backtracking?”, but that saw the former Man Utd midfielder change tone once again.
He refused to apologise for the comments, saying that they were only joking about the physical mismatch, though the words they used were not ideal. He praised the Argentine for playing well, and said: “No, I’m not apologising for it, no. I’m just saying, the thing we were trying to say was, look, we thought. It still is. Physically, it’s a mismatch. Look, the way we described it probably wasn’t great and we probably shouldn’t have done that, but still, it was. He’s had one good game as well.”
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It was not the first time Scholes spoke about the comments from Martinez. On this week’s episode of The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, he said that it was a tongue-in-cheek comment and it was nothing serious.
Butt hit back at Martinez, calling for the Manchester United defender to ‘grow up’ as criticism is bound to come for players at the club.
