Man Utd defender Lisandro Martinez will go head-to-head with Erling Haaland in the Manchester derby again this weekend.
Lisandro Martinez battles with Erling Haaland in January.(Image: 2026 James Gill - Danehouse)
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Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez has downplayed his rivalry with Erling Haaland, insisting that his good performances against the Manchester City star are "in the past".
United will welcome City to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon. The Reds have made an underwhelming start to the Premier League season, but secured a confidence-boosting 4-0 win against Sabah in the Champions League on Thursday night.
The latest chapter of the rivalry between Martinez and Haaland is about to be written. The pair have been involved in several battles in the fixture, but Haaland has not scored in the five Manchester derbies that Martinez has played in since his hat-trick on the defender's debut against City.
Martinez delivered a flawless defensive performance as United won 2-0 against City at Old Trafford in Michael Carrick's first game in charge in January, disproving Paul Scholes' theory that Haaland would dominate him.
The Argentina international spoke to reporters after Thursday's win against Sabah. It was put to Martinez that he'd enjoyed good games against Haaland in the past.
"Yeah, but that is the past," Martinez responded. "It's the past, you know, 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."
Martinez believes United's confidence should be boosted going into the Manchester derby following their Champions League win.
"For sure when you win, your confidence is going up, you know," he said. "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."
Martinez was indifferent when he was asked about City having an extra 48 hours to prepare for the game, saying United "can't change it", but he welcomed the fact that the Reds are now playing two games per week.
"This is what we want, playing every three days, playing in all the competitions," he said. "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."
Martinez got on the scoresheet in the second half against Sabah, but he was more pleased with the clean sheet. "Well, I'm happy with the performance and with the clean sheet," he reflected.
"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."