LISANDRO MARTINEZ insists Manchester United’s Europa League triumph over Real Betis “doesn’t say anything” as they are looking to meet manager Erik ten Hag’s “standards”.
United destroyed Betis with a score of 4-1 at Old Trafford with goals by Marcus Rashford, Antony, Bruno Fernandes and Wout Weghorst – the visitors temporarily equalised with Leicester loanee Ayoze Perez.
This comes shortly after Sunday’s 7-0 mauling to Liverpool, which led to some fiery remarks by Ten Hag accusing his players of dropping their “standards” after a dominant run across all competitions.
Martinez suggested the team took the Dutchman’s criticism on board and are now refusing to lose their concentration.
The Red Devils picked up a comfortable lead in the first leg of the Last 16 but the centre-back insists they need to remain focused ahead of a tough return fixture next week in Seville.
Martinez told MUTV: “It was a great result for us, but we have to keep going.
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“It doesn’t say anything this result. It’s the first leg and when we go to Betis, we have to be ready and focused, especially in their home, they play well and have the support of their people.
“We are happy for this game. I think the energy of the team [lacked], they started to play, and in the second half we changed the passion, the energy and we showed our mentality and we created more chances, then we score.”
Antony, Fernandes and Weghorst received immense criticism after the embarrassing loss at Liverpool.
But Martinez backed all of his United three team-mates, who redeemed themselves with an improved performance against Betis.
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The Argentina international added: “He’s a really good player [Antony], with a lot of quality, his skills are amazing and I’m happy for him because it’s important for his confidence. I’m really happy with the job of the team.
“I’m happy for him [Fernandes] as well, as like you say, there was a lot of criticism to our team but it’s like this when you play for a big, big team, it can happen, so you have to be ready and be happy with where we are.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
