Lisandro Martínez makes chilling ACL injury admission as Man Utd star reinvents himself

Lisandro Martinez has 10 games under his belt since returning from a serious knee injury that kept him out of action for nine months. The Manchester United defender has opened up on the battles he had to overcome and how they have shaped his mentality since returning to the team.

In February 2025, Lisandro Martinez was stretchered off after suffering an ACL injury against Crystal Palace.

It was feared that the injury would rule Martinez out for the rest of 2025, but the World Cup winner had a full-circle moment when he returned to face Palace at the beginning of December.

Martinez now has 10 appearances under his belt, but United have 17 more games to play this season before the 27-year-old links up with the Argentina squad to try to defend the World Cup trophy.

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It remains to be seen who will be the preferred centre-back pairing for the remainder of the season, after Michael Carrick was appointed head coach ahead of Saturday’s Manchester derby.

Carrick has many defenders to select from. He will be wary of the fact that Martinez recently returned from a serious knee injury that he won’t want to aggravate or risk worsening.

It’s a difficult period for most footballers when injuries prevent them from training and playing matches.

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Nine months was a long time for Martinez, but it wasn’t the first serious injury he had suffered since joining United from Ajax in 2022.

In a new interview with AFA Estudio, Martinez lifts the lid on how difficult the recovery process was and how he considered quitting football as a result.

“I clung to the people around me: my family, my friends,” Martinez said, as quoted by Ole.

“And after the first two or three weeks, to tell you the truth, I didn’t want to play football anymore. Because I’d already suffered a foot fracture, now this knee injury, and I said, ‘That’s it, I don’t want to know anything more about it.’

“And then, clearly, you become more aware, you start to have that support, both in football and personally, where people tell you, ‘Don’t give up,’ they help you, they push you forward.

“And those are the people you need to avoid choosing the easy path.”

Martinez went on to explain that he needed to change his mentality.

“You have to reinvent yourself, because you’re starting from scratch. From scratch in every sense: physically, mentally, personally. Basically, you feel like you’re not a football player.

“You feel pain and you think you’ll never play football again. A mental and physical imbalance, and honestly, when I think about it now, I say, ‘I don’t know how I did it.’”

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Lisandro Martinez became more appreciative after injury

An ACL injury is something every footballer wants to avoid, but Martinez has expressed gratitude for having gone through it.

The feisty defender argues that he feels this way because it helped him grow on a personal level, adding: “Sometimes you think you’re on top for the world, and that’s when life, or whatever it is, sends you these kinds of messages to say ‘this isn’t the way.’

“I think they’re always good moments, good messages that sometimes you have to get injured to realise and appreciate more where you are.

“I am grateful. Obviously, it’s a bit strong to say ‘thank you’ to this injury because nobody likes being injured, but thanks to this injury, today I can say that I have changed a lot as a person, or my perspective on life.

“I value everything more: I value life more, I value the weather more, the smell of the grass, the ball, going out onto the field, everything.”

Martinez concluded by saying he now feels better than ever.

“I feel really good. I said it in an interview, one of the last ones, that I was a little surprised, because I thought it was going to be harder to come back, but we managed it well.

“Everything was very gradual, and that helped a lot in making me feel good now. But physically, mentally, I’m better than ever.”

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