Gary Neville has been left perplexed by Lisandro Martinez’s showings on the international stage with Argentina.
The centre-half played the full 90 minutes last night as Argentina completed an emphatic comeback in the dying embers to beat Egypt 3-2 in their last-16 clash.
Egypt held a two-goal lead until the 79th minute, when Cristian Romero then halved the deficit before Lionel Messi equalised just four minutes later.
In the third minute of injury time, Enzo Fernandez clinched the win to send the reigning champions through to the quarter-finals.
How did Lisandro Martinez fare vs Egypt?
Manchester United’s No.6 recorded the most defensive contributions (13) of any player, which included seven clearances (four headed), four tackles and two interceptions, as per Fotmob.
Martinez won seven of his nine ground duels contested and one of two aerial duels, while winning two fouls.
In attack, the defender recorded a whopping 11 final-third passes, two accurate long balls, and a successful dribble.
Ultimately, however, fingers will be pointed at him and his counterparts in the backline for allowing Egypt to run riot for the bulk of the tie.
What did Neville have to say about Martinez?
Reacting to Argentina’s performance on ITV post-match, Neville said: “You watch Romero and Martinez, and they’re the best ‘worst centre-halves’ in the world.
“You watch them… they give goals away constantly. But they don’t care about giving goals away because they’ll score goals at the other end. They have massive personalities, and they keep going.
“Look, at that point in the game, you think Argentina are hanging on for dear life. They’re fighting for their lives, and Romero is part of that comeback, you know what I mean? Why is he there?”
From United and Michael Carrick’s perspective, they’ll perhaps care less about Martinez’s performances so long as he returns to Carrington completely fit and injury-free ahead of 2026/2027 getting underway.
Argentina are back in front in extra time! 🇦🇷
Lisandro Martínez rifles it into the top of the net to regain the lead in Miami pic.twitter.com/I5C5bngMuc
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 4, 2026
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