Lisandro Martinez has urged his Manchester United teammates to remain "calm and humble" as they prepare to face Manchester City on Sunday, despite a recent 4-0 Champions League victory over FK Sabah.
Martinez, who scored the fourth goal in the Europa League match against the Azerbaijani side, acknowledged the boost in confidence from the team's European performance. However, he stressed that the upcoming derby against their fierce rivals requires a focused and grounded approach. "When you win, your confidence is going up, you know, but now we have to be calm, we have to be humble," Martinez stated. "Then tomorrow we have to think about the derby that is really important for us."
Despite the convincing win over FK Sabah, Martinez downplayed suggestions that the team is ready to challenge for major titles. "It's too early to say that," he commented. "We just have to be ready every game, we have to be humble, have to enjoy, have to fight every game, and we know what we want, but I can't tell you [if we will challenge at the top this season]."
The clean sheet in the FK Sabah match was a particular point of emphasis for United, marking the first of the season after conceding goals in previous league games against Hull City, Ipswich Town, and Everton. Martinez expressed frustration with defensive lapses, noting that conceding late goals, as happened against Everton, "annoys" the players. "It's really bad, for sure, because we want to be there, and if we want to compete, we have to keep the clean sheet because it's very important. Today we did it and we have to build on that."
Looking ahead to the derby, Martinez acknowledged the difference in challenge compared to the European fixture. "Yeah, but that is the past. It's the past, you know, it's gone and now we have to, I have to be ready for this game because it's going to be so different than the last one."
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