Paul Scholes doubles down on Lisandro Martinez criticism and refuses to apologise to Man Utd star over Haaland comments

PAUL SCHOLES has continued his public spat with Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez and WON’T apologise for comments made last week.

Martinez, 28, proved the United legend wrong by keeping Erling Haaland quiet during the 2-0 derby day win at Old Trafford but has not done enough to fully impress Scholes.

Alongside fellow former United midfielder Nicky Butt, Scholes had been extremely critical of Martinez on his The Good, The Bad and The Football Podcast.

Now offered the chance to backtrack on the comments, Scholes told Sky’s The Overlap: “No, I’m not apologising for it, no.

“The thing we were trying to say was, we thought, and it still is, physically, it’s a mismatch.

“Now look, the way we described it probably wasn’t great and we probably shouldn’t have done that but still, it was [a mismatch].

“He’s had one good game. How many, two?

“I hope to God he proves me wrong, but look at the week before against Brighton, Danny Welbeck [scores].

“Look at the week before that, Burnley. He gave the goal away against Burnley.

“I can see why he was offended by it, and that’s why I say we probably worded it not in a great way.

BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS

“And look, I hope he proves me wrong.

“He’s had a great game against City, he was brilliant but we’ve got to see that now for a season.

“And again, on Sunday [against Arsenal], it’s a big one for him.”

When asked by Jamie Carragher if the podcast had made Scholes a lot of money due to the viral quotes, he answered:

“I didn’t realise how many Argentinean friends I had until this week.

“F****** hell, I’ve had some s*** off them, Jesus.

“But hey, look, that was my opinion.

“Do you know what? What we said probably wasn’t great when you look back.”

Scholes then addressed the mounting pressure on United from ex pros, saying: “Probably since them comments, there has been a lot of backlash towards it.

“Toxicity is the word that you use and a lot of people probably have labelled that at me and Nicky for the last few days.

“It’s not something we like doing.

“We want to see the team winning, we want to see the team successful every single week.

“You go back to when we played and when Jamie played, you did get a bit of criticism.

“I think it’s probably more so now than it ever has been that people are speaking their mind, and you’ve got to deal with it.

“You’ve got to realise you’re at probably – well, definitely – one of the biggest clubs in the world and you are going to take a little bit of criticism at times.

“Especially when it’s not going as well as it has, or as well as it could do.”

Scholes had initially said: “Haaland would pick Martinez up and run with him.

“He’d score then throw him in the net.”

Martinez and Harry Maguire anchored a brilliant victory for Michael Carrick‘s side before being asked about the comments from Scholes.

The centre-back replied: “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.

“Everyone can talk on the television but when you sit 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.”

After the match, Scholes sent Martinez a message online, joking about taking up his offer of going round: “Someone’s had a good game, was really happy for you…

“Tea, no sugar pls @lisandromartinezzz.”

Butt simply felt that the reaction to the pod was way over the top.

He said: “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, 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****** 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.”

Butt had followed a similar line to Scholes, saying pre-match: “Haaland would pick Martínez up and run with him [like] you know, when you see a dad at school running down the road with a little toddler.”