Schmeichel admits his Martinez interview was 'clumsy' after missing explosive United outburst

Peter Schmeichel has admitted his pitchside interview with Lisandro Martinez following Manchester United’s 2-0 Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday was ‘clumsy’, revealing he had no idea the Argentine had just delivered a scathing attack on the club’s hierarchy in a separate interview moments earlier.

Martinez had spoken to Prime Video Sport’s Gabriel Clarke at the Metropolitano, where he criticised United’s summer transfer business and called out director of football Jason Wilcox over the club’s failure to strengthen adequately — signing only four players in the window. Schmeichel, working as a pitchside reporter, was then handed Martinez for his own interview without any warning of what had just been said.

“I know he’s there, he’s not on my list. I’m not interviewing him at all because I’ve asked for somebody else,” Schmeichel explained on The Overlap. “This interview finishes and they push him into mine. So when you look at the interview, I’m a little bit surprised. I don’t know what he’d said at this time.”

The former United goalkeeper said that when Martinez told him “we should do a lot better” during their exchange, he interpreted it as the 28-year-old reflecting on the players’ own performance rather than continuing a broadside against the club’s leadership.

“Because he’s speaking to a former player, I think he’s saying that we, as players, should do a lot better,” Schmeichel said. “I had no clue he was on the attack the way he was. So in my interview, I didn’t understand that he was saying all that, so in a way my interview became a little bit clumsy in the greater scheme of things.”

Fans on social media had criticised Schmeichel for appearing to deflect the conversation towards on-pitch matters, with some accusing him of trying to protect the club’s image. His account on The Overlap clarifies that the reaction was the result of a logistical miscommunication in the UEFA media zone rather than any deliberate attempt to soften Martinez’s message.

Martinez’s original comments to Clarke represented one of the most direct public criticisms of United’s recruitment from within the playing squad in recent memory, adding further pressure on the club’s football operations ahead of the return leg.