The Manchester United defender called out former Reds midfielders Butt and Paul Scholes for comments they made on their podcast
Nicky Butt has hit back at Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez(Image: The Good, The Bad & The Football/YouTube)
Former Newcastle United captain Nicky Butt has namechecked the Magpies as he furiously hit back at comments made about him from Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez.
Following his side’s 2-0 Manchester derby win, the Argentina international issued a feisty response to comments made by Butt and fellow former Red Devils midfielder Paul Scholes after they mocked his size ahead of his battle with Man City forward Erling Haaland.
Butt joked that Haaland ‘would pick Martinez up and run with him’ like a ‘dad after school running down the road with a little toddler’ ahead of the game, before Scholes added: ‘He’d score then throw him in the net.’
But Martinez was part of a United defence that kept Haaland quiet en route to keeping a clean sheet at Old Trafford and, after the game, the 28-year-old claimed the pair would not offer the same sort of criticism to his face.
That has prompted Butt to hit back at Martinez, telling him to ‘f****** grow up,’ referencing criticism he faced at both Manchester United and Newcastle as a player to suggest it comes as part of the territory when playing for a big club.
“First and foremost, he was brilliant on the day and fair play to him,” Butt said on his The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.
“He’s gone out and gone man-to-man against probably the best centre-forward in the world, possibly.
“Him and Harry, to be fair, were brilliant, so we could come on here now and say brilliant, well done. But that is what is expected from a Man United player on derby day.
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“For me, we are a podcast, and we talk like three lads in a pub having a conversation; we are not on Sky doing commentary on a game.
“It is tongue in cheek, and it is quite obvious that Haaland is not going to pick him up and run with him. It is f****** obvious. It is a figure of speech.
“I just think when someone gets so upset about someone in the media or on a podcast saying something about them, to come out and basically say they can say what they want, come to my house and all that, f****** grow up.
Lisandro Martinez’s war of words with Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes has continued(Image: (Michael Regan/Getty Images))
“It is literally if you are going to get so emotional about someone saying something and come out and react like that, you shouldn’t be at a big football club because I am telling you now he is going to get that for the rest of his career at Manchester United.
“You get your ups and downs and I got so much c**p when I played at Man United and Newcastle, but then next week you get your plaudits and you get clapped at. There is no personal issue with us and Martinez. None.
“He’s telling us to come knock on his house. I’m f****** 50 years of age; I’m not going knocking on someone’s house saying, ‘Can we have a chat?’ It’s just ridiculous. And, if you’re going to get that precious, you better be s*** hot every week.”
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