Nicky Butt has told Lisandro Martinez to « grow the f*** up » after the defender took issue with remarks Paul Scholes made ahead of the Manchester derby. Manchester United legend Scholes had suggested that Erling Haaland would score and « then throw him in the net » while talking about Martinez. Butt further claimed: « Haaland would pick Martinez up and run with him, you know, when you see a dad at school running down the road with a little toddler. »
However, the Norwegian failed to find the net, with United maintaining a clean sheet at Old Trafford and Pep Guardiola withdrawing his star striker in the 80th minute as the Red Devils won 2-0. Following the derby, Martinez addressed Scholes’ pre-match comments, stating: « Honestly, he can say whatever he wants. I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to wherever he wants, to my house, wherever, I don’t care.
« And I think for me, I respect the relations when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on the television, but when you see [them] here face to face, no one says anything in your face. So for me, I don’t really care what they say. I just put the focus on my performance, the performance of the team, and I give everything to this club until my last day. »
Scholes subsequently replied via Instagram, posting: « Someone’s had a good game, was really happy for you. » Addressing the invitation to Martinez’s home, the pundit quipped: « Tea, no sugar, please. »
Butt and Scholes have now responded at length to Martinez’s comments on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast. Butt started: « 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*****g obvious that. 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*****g grow up.
« 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 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 crap 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 Martinez and us. None. »
Source link
