MANCHESTER UNITED defender Lisandro Martinez has downplayed his record against City striker Erling Haaland ahead of the derby.
Since Haaland plundered a hat-trick on his and Martinez’s derby debuts in October 2022, he has not scored in five derbies when the Argentine has played.
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United great Nicky Butt predicted that the 6ft 5in Haaland would “pick Martinez up and run with him” and “treat him like a toddler” before the Old Trafford derby in January.
Butt’s old team-mate and fellow podcaster Paul Scholes laughed that Haaland would “throw him in the net” after scoring.
United won 2-0 and Martinez afterwards dared Butt and Scholes to air their criticism of him at his home.
Haaland has hit five goals in his last three games and United have conceded six in their first three Premier League fixtures.
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Martinez admitted their leaky form is “annoying” but was reluctant to overstate his record against Haaland.
Martinez said: “That is the past. It’s gone and now we have to – I have to – be ready for this game because it’s going to be so different from the last one.
“For sure when you win, your confidence is going up. But now we have to be calm, we have to be humble and enjoy [the Sabah win].
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Saturday 12 September
Bournemouth
15:00
EPL
Brentford
Villa
15:00
EPL
Forest
Chelsea
15:00
EPL
Hull
Palace
15:00
EPL
Ipswich
Liverpool
15:00
EPL
Fulham
Spurs
17:30
EPL
Everton
Sunderland
20:00
EPL
Arsenal
Sunday 6 September
Arsenal
2 – 1
EPL
Chelsea
Everton
2 – 2
EPL
Man Utd
Saturday 5 September
Hull
0 – 0
EPL
Villa
Forest
0 – 0
EPL
Spurs
Man City
1 – 0
EPL
Coventry
Fulham
2 – 3
EPL
Palace
English Premier League
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Pts
GD
W
D
L
Form
1
3
9
5
3
0
0
2
3
9
5
3
0
0
3
3
7
3
2
1
0
4
3
6
1
2
0
1
5
3
5
3
1
2
0
6
3
5
2
1
2
0
7
3
5
2
1
2
0
8
3
5
2
1
2
0
“And then we have to think about the derby that is really important for us.
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“Against Everton, we played to take the clean sheet and then we conceded the goals and that’s what annoys us.
“It’s really bad, for sure, because we want to be there and if we want to compete, we have to keep the clean sheet because it’s very important.”
City beat Porto in their Champions League opener on Tuesday night whereas United had to wait until Thursday to see off Sabah.
Although coach Michael Carrick afforded Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Diogo Dalot and Marcus Rashford complete rests, City have 48 hours’ extra recovery time.
But Martinez is just grateful to have midweek matches again after a season devoid of European football.
He added: “This is what we want, playing every three days, playing in all the competitions.
“This is what we have wanted for a long time and now we are ready. We have to recover now and this is the standard that we want as a team.”
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Martinez also hailed Leny Yoro as “the future” of United after his first start of the campaign against Sabah.
Yoro joined United in a £58.91million deal in July 2024 but the 20-year-old is still behind Maguire in the right-sided centre-back pecking order.
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“Amazing performance from Leny Yoro,” Martinez enthused. “He played so well defensively, with the ball, being calm, being composed in every situation, one-against-one.
“He’s the future of this club, honestly. And we have to help him.”