'F*cking grow up!' - Nicky Butt & Paul Scholes inflame Lisandro Martinez row as 'emotional' Man Utd defender told he 'shouldn't be at a big club'

Ahead of an eagerly-anticipated derby date between United and their “noisy neighbours” Manchester City, Butt and Scholes suggested that diminutive centre-half Martinez would be treated like a “little toddler” by powerful Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.

That was not the case, with Martinez embracing the challenge of facing the Premier League’s leading goalscorer. He kept Haaland quiet throughout, allowing United - under the guidance of interim boss Michael Carrick - to claim a notable 2-0 win.

Responding to a couple of United icons afterwards, Martinez told reporters: “Honestly, he (Scholes) 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.” He went on to state how those that like to speak up in public never have anything to say “in your face”.

Scholes responded in an Instagram post by saying: “Someone's had a good game, was really happy for you.” He has now joined fellow ex-England international Butt on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast.

On that, outspoken Butt said in response to Martinez: “First and foremost, he was brilliant on the day and fair play to him. He's gone out and gone man-to-man against probably the best centre-forward in the world, possibly. Him and Harry [Maguire], to be fair, were brilliant, so we could come on here now and say, 'Brilliant, well done.' But that is what is expected from a Man United player on derby day.

“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*cking obvious. 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 and all that, f*cking 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 at 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 us and Martinez. None.”

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Butt added on Martinez’s invite to face-to-face talks: “He's telling us to come knock on his house. I'm f*cking 50 years of age, I'm not going knocking on someone's house saying, 'Can we have a chat?' It's just ridiculous. And, if you're going to get that precious, you better be sh*t hot every week.”

Scholes chimed in with, while admitting to previously being in touch with Martinez on social media: “Look, we exchanged messages on Instagram quite some time ago. Yeah, he weren't happy with something I said, I can’t remember what it was, and he just said that he lost all respect for me.

“I wouldn't have said this normally, but he's come out and said stuff, so why not? He said he lost all kinds of respect for me. When we got stick as players, you look at it and remember it. We used it as fuel, you don't go answering back.”

Martinez, who is finding his best form after recovering from an ACL injury, will be required to put in another dominant display in United’s next Premier League fixtures as Carrick’s side - who occupy fifth spot in the standings - are preparing for a trip to table-topping Arsenal on Sunday.