Pranav Kannan
Manchester United superstar Lisandro Martinez sends ‘proud’ Argentina message
Manchester United defensive ace Lisandro Martinez has taken to Instagram to send a message after Argentina’s valiant 2-1 win over Australia, thereby progressing to the quarterfinals of the Fifa World Cup.
Martinez, who finds himself behind the defensive partnership of Nicolas Otamendi and Cristian Romero in the pecking order started the game against the Socceroos on the bench but was brought on very early in the second half.
The former Ajax centre-back came on for the injured Papu Gomez and had yet another solid outing in the sky blue and white shirt. Martinez, as always, did not hesitate to fly into a tackle and it was one such last-ditch effort that prevented Aziz Behich from making it 2-2 on the night.
Martinez, along with his centre-back partners Romero and Otamendi were crucial during the last 10-odd minutes of the game when Australia kept sending in ball after ball into the penalty area only to always see it met by an Argentinian head.
Two clearances, one blocked shot, one tackle won, one out-of-one ground duel and an aerial duel won in just over 40 minutes of play meant that it was a flawless defensive display from Martinez who was playing in a hybrid centre-back/left-back role.
Here is what Martinez had to say about his team’s performance on Instagram after securing qualification for the next round.
“Proud of this band. What a claw, united as always we keep moving forward!!”
Argentina will now face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the World Cup and that will definitely not be an easy clash. The Dutch army are coming into this game on the back of arguably their best performance in the tournament yet against the USA and it promises to be an excellent clash.
Lisandro Martinez is likely to not be expecting to start the game against Louis van Gaal’s side with Scaloni very obviously preferring the partnership of Otamendi and Romero but his influence on the bench cannot be underrated.
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Manchester United will be watching the 24-year-old’s performances very closely and hope that he can keep the same form until the end of the competition and also when he returns for club duty.
