Lisandro Martinez (foto: Getty Images)
Lisandro Martinez admitted he considered retiring during his long ACL recovery, describing months of mental and physical struggle before returning to action and rediscovering himself at Manchester United.
Lisandro Martinez has made a shocking and deeply personal confession: he came close to retiring from football during the darkest period of his long injury recovery.
The Manchester United defender, who spent nine months on the sidelines after suffering a serious ACL injury, admitted that the mental and physical toll almost pushed him out of the game.
Speaking in a candid interview with AFA Estudio, the Argentine World Cup winner described a period in which he felt completely disconnected from his identity as a footballer.
“You feel like you're not a football player anymore. You feel pain and think you'll never play football again. A mental and physical imbalance… when I think about it today, I don't know how I did it,” Martinez said.
The defender was injured in February during a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and beginning a long, lonely rehabilitation process.
For a player known as “The Butcher” because of his aggressive, uncompromising style, being stuck away from the pitch was torture.
“After the first two or three weeks, to be honest, I didn't want to play football anymore,” he admitted.
Not his first injury nightmare
This was not the first cruel setback of his Manchester United career.
In April 2023, Martinez suffered a fractured metatarsal in a Europa League match against Sevilla. That injury required two operations and kept him out for 180 days across two spells.
Because of these injuries, he was forced to watch from the stands as United lost the 2023 FA Cup final to Manchester City and later the Europa League final against Tottenham.
“The easy way out is to give up”
Martinez admitted he needed psychological help to survive the process and slowly rebuild himself.
“You need to not take the easy way out. The easy way out is to just give up and that's it. But it’s in the face of adversity that you show your true character,” he said.
“I reconnected with myself, with my roots, with who I am, with my values, and I gave it my all, day after day.”
He described his rehabilitation not as a medical process, but as a daily fight.
“For me, it was day by day, a constant struggle, and my match was every day at the gym,” Martinez explained.
“I worked with a psychologist, I tried to improve in every aspect. I clung to the people around me — my family, my friends.”
Emotional return and new beginning
Martinez finally returned to action at the end of November — fittingly, in a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, the same opponent against whom he suffered his injury.
“With each passing month, I saw the results. I saw how I was getting stronger. Today, on the pitch, I feel excellent,” he said.
“Thanks to those days of suffering, of not giving up — today we have the results.”
Despite all his setbacks, Martinez has already made 101 appearances for United and remains a key figure in the squad.
His return is a major boost for new coach Michael Carrick, especially ahead of the huge clash with Manchester City this weekend.
After everything he has been through, Lisandro Martinez is no longer just fighting opponents.
He has already won the hardest battle of his career.