United’s midweek European triumph has injected vital positivity into the squad, and Martinez acknowledged the importance of the result. “For sure when you win, your confidence is going up, you know,” he explained. “But now we have to be calm, we have to be humble and enjoy tonight, and then tomorrow we have to think about the derby that is really important for us.”
City will have enjoyed an extra 48 hours of rest ahead of the fixture, but Martinez remains unfazed by the schedule. “This is what we want, playing every three days, playing in all the competitions,” he added. “This is what we want from long time, you know, and now we are ready. We have to recover now and this is the standard that we want as a team.”
The defender even found the back of the net against Sabah, though he stressed that his primary focus remains on his defensive duties. “Well, I’m happy with the performance and with the clean sheet,” Martinez concluded. “I’m a defender, you know, and if I score it’s good, if I don’t score, it doesn’t matter, you know. For me, it’s important to get the three points and winning and playing good football, that’s the most important for me and that’s it.”