Lisandro Martinez has delivered a heartfelt message following his eagerly anticipated comeback for Manchester United. The defender has spent the bulk of this year on the sidelines whilst rehabilitating from a knee ligament injury sustained back in February. Martinez suffered the setback during a Premier League encounter with Crystal Palace and subsequently went under the knife, which sidelined the centre-back for what remained of the 2024/25 season.
He has steadily been regaining match sharpness in recent weeks and was included amongst the substitutes for last week’s Premier League defeat against Everton. On Sunday, Martinez once more found himself on the bench for the meeting with Palace, and this time featured briefly during the dying moments at Selhurst Park.
More than 24 hours after the final whistle in south London, Martinez shared a post with his 6.8 million Instagram followers reflecting upon his United comeback.
“Long time not being able to do what I love most and what better way to return to the court [pitch] with a very important win,” Martinez wrote.
“They were months of suffering, uncertainty, anguish, imbalance… where the lack of energy was nothing to beat me, but I was lucky enough to count on my family, friends, teammates, fans, the club and the national team, to recharge the heart. Just thank you, everyone.”
Reactions flooded in, including one from ex-United goalkeeper David de Gea. The shot-stopper, now plying his trade with Fiorentina, commented ‘he’s back’ alongside a knife emoji, a nod to Martinez’s butcher nickname.
United colleague Joshua Zirkzee responded with ‘welcome back’ and a red love heart, whilst fellow Argentine Rodrigo De Paul added ‘we were waiting for you, beautiful butcher’.
Following the triumph over Palace, United skipper Bruno Fernandes expressed his delight at having Martinez available once more.
“It’s very important to have him [Martinez] back, it’s such a long spell that he was out, even for himself, it’s great to be back with the team to have this feeling of playing games again,” Fernandes told MUTV.
“We know how much he struggled being out without being able to play for us. He’s back and one more option to have such big quality in the team, so we’re very happy with it.”
United’s next fixture sees them welcome West Ham to Old Trafford on Thursday evening in the Premier League, with Martinez hoping to clock up additional minutes as he builds match sharpness following an extended absence.