Argentina centre-back Lisandro Martinez don suffer injury for World Cup final against Spain. Di Manchester United defender, wey be key player for Lionel Scaloni side, bin point to im thigh and hold im shirt over im face before dem take am off for di 44th minute. Nicolas Otamendi, wey don old reach 38 years, come replace am.
Martinez lead Argentina for clearances with 34, and na second for defensive interventions with 63 for dis tournament. Before im substitution, Martinez bin tie with Gonzalo Montiel for most defensive interventions with five each. Otamendi don start for di 2022 final wey Argentina beat France for penalty shootout.
Di match bin go 0-0 at halftime for MetLife Stadium. Scaloni make another change for halftime, replace Nico González, wey dey make im first start for di tournament, with Leandro Paredes. Argentina goalkeeper Dibu Martinez signal to di bench say change need to happen.
Martinez don receive yellow card small time before for cutting down Spain forward Mikel Oyarzabal for counter-attack. Spain left back Marc Cucarella try low shot from outside box wey no bring Martinez into action, but im signal say im dey hurt before go down for di box.
Di injury na big blow for Manchester United too. Michael Carrick, wey don take over as permanent head coach, dey plan to build on third-place finish last term. Carrick lead di club to Champions League football for first time since 2023, and dem sign Andrey Santos for £48 million, Karl Darlow for free, and Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa for £35 million. Martinez injury fit affect Carrick defence plans, as Matthijs de Ligt dey struggle with lower back issue, and Martinez self just recover from ACL rupture. Harry Maguire and Leny Yoro be di other senior central defenders, while Ayden Heaven na di only other left-footed centre-half.
