Peter Schmeichel Calls Interview With Lisandro Martinez 'Clumsy'

Peter Schmeichel has acknowledged that his interview with Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez was "clumsy." Schmeichel stated he was surprised when Martinez was presented to him for an interview immediately after the defender had delivered an explosive critique of the club's management to Amazon Prime.

Martinez had accused Manchester United's leadership of lacking ambition in the transfer market following the team's 2-0 Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid. Following this initial outburst, Martinez joined Schmeichel, a former United player, on CBS Sports, where he continued to express his dissatisfaction with the club's efforts to build a competitive squad.

Fans criticized Schmeichel's line of questioning during the interview, suggesting he attempted to steer the conversation toward more positive aspects to mitigate Martinez's criticism of the club's board. Speaking on "The Overlap," Schmeichel revealed that the interview was not initially planned and that he was unaware of the extent of Martinez's earlier comments.

"I didn’t know what he’d said," Schmeichel explained. "Then in my interview he says, 'We should do a lot better.' He’s carrying on from that interview, but I don’t know what he’s saying. Because he’s speaking to a former player, I thought he was saying that we, as players, should do a lot better. I had no clue he was on the attack the way he was."

Schmeichel, who was part of Manchester United's Treble-winning squad in 1999, began his interview by asking Martinez about the team's poor form. Martinez responded by criticizing the squad's depth, stating, "For me, we don't have the best squad." He added, "I'm not going to close my mouth. We need more ambition, we need to talk more about winning Champions Leagues, winning Premier Leagues."

Schmeichel's attempt to shift the focus by saying, "But the good news is that we're only in October, there's a long way to go," was met with Martinez interjecting, "Yes, but every season we are saying the same thing. If we don't say the truth, nothing will change."

Martinez was expected to be in Manchester United's squad to face Leeds on Sunday after issuing an apology for his comments. He met with club leadership and the manager, describing the conversation as "very positive." Martinez stated that his frustration following the defeat led him to express his feelings at an inappropriate time and place, for which he apologized.