Manchester United were beaten 2-0 at Atletico Madrid, but defender Lisandro Martinez blasts the club’s failure to invest in the team.
Published on October 13, 2026
Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez has slammed the club’s board for a lack of investment this summer, after the team were beaten by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.
United are winless in five games in all competitions after the 2-0 defeat in the Spanish capital and have made their worst start to a league season in 40 years.
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“Really poor,” Martinez told Amazon Prime when asked about the team’s performance against Atletico.
“I have to control myself a lot but sometimes it’s a reflection… (or) the mirror of the current situation of our club.”
Martinez said he “100 per cent” expected more investment in the squad over the summer after United finished third in the Premier League last season and returned to Europe’s top competition.
“I expect more from our technical director (Jason Wilcox), I have to be honest, as players we have to do more, but it is also important when you form a strong team to be ready for these kinds of evenings,” he continued.
Martinez said last season the club had “created the foundation to create an incredible team”, but they didn’t follow through.
Pressure is mounting on manager Michael Carrick after five games without a win, but Martinez suggested sacking the Englishman was not the way forward.
“You can’t keep changing, changing, changing managers. What about other areas? I can’t say more,” Martinez said.
“Tonight it’s easy to say the coach (is to blame), easy to say the players, but we also have to look at other areas.”
Red Devils minority owner Jim Ratcliffe was at the stadium to watch the league stage defeat to last season’s semi-finalists.
Man United spent around 140 million pounds ($185 million) this summer on midfielders Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, but fans were unhappy that the club did not strengthen other positions, including left-back and striker.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Carrick said he hadn’t heard Martinez’s comments and therefore couldn’t judge them.
“I think it also depends a little bit on the emotions of the match, on coming here and being disappointed not to get something out of the match,” the coach said.
Former Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney said criticism of Martinez was excessive.
“I think maybe he went a little too far, and it should have been kept internal,” Rooney told Amazon Prime.
“You can clearly see that he cares and wants the club to invest more money in more players, and to do that he is probably one of the players who will be out if I’m honest.
Gn sports
