Carragher and Rooney condemn Martinez for airing Man United grievances after Atletico defeat

Jamie Carragher and Wayne Rooney have rounded on Lisandro Martinez after the Manchester United centre-back used a post-match interview to attack the club’s hierarchy following a 2-0 Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid.

Martinez, 28, directed criticism at technical director Jason Wilcox and argued that United should have invested more heavily in the squad during the most recent transfer window. The comments drew an immediate and widespread reaction from pundits.

Carragher was unequivocal in his verdict. “It’s funny when players say that, they never talk about their own positions,” he said. “Whenever a player goes ‘we haven’t done enough in the transfer window’, he won’t mean centre-back, he’ll mean other areas of the pitch. So the players who came in in the summer, how do you think they feel when he’s saying that now?”

The former Liverpool defender drew a parallel with Ruben Amorim’s own public criticism of those above him last season, saying he had called for the manager to be sacked on that occasion for the same reason. “I think your football club’s a family,” Carragher added. “As families do, you put a united front on, you protect each other. This will blow up and I think he’s out of order.”

Rooney, speaking separately, questioned the timing and intent behind Martinez’s decision to speak out. “I think Martinez was very premeditated,” he said. “Why is he doing the interview after this game? It looked like something he spoke about with his team to get out there.”

Rooney warned that the outburst risked fracturing the dressing room at an already difficult moment for the club. “When you need everyone to stick together as players, you can’t be told what’s going on above you,” he said. “Something like that will rip a dressing room apart. I think it’s a bit disrespectful to his team-mates as well.”

United’s defeat to Atletico Madrid leaves the club under mounting pressure in the Champions League, and Martinez’s intervention has ensured the fallout extends well beyond the result itself.