Lisandro Martínez Criticizes Manchester United Directors Following 2-0 Loss to Atletico Madrid

Lisandro Martínez targeted Manchester United's owners and technical director Jason Wilcox for underinvestment following a 2-0 defeat at the Metropolitano.

Manchester United suffered a 2-0 UEFA Champions League defeat against Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano on October 13, 2026. The result marks United's third loss in five matches and leaves manager Michael Carrick with a record of one win in his last seven games. Following the match, defender Lisandro Martínez used a postmatch interview with Amazon Prime to attribute the club's struggles to a lack of investment from majority owners the Glazer family, minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and technical director Jason Wilcox.

United spent £150 million during the summer transfer window to acquire midfielders Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans, and Andrey Santos. However, the club failed to secure a new left back or a backup for center forward Benjamin Sesko, who missed the Atletico Madrid match due to injury alongside Luke Shaw. According to Martínez, the failure to add more players to the squad after a successful previous season has allowed rivals to surpass the team. Manchester City (£450m), Chelsea (over £300m), Spurs (over £300m), Liverpool (£227m), Ipswich (£190m), and Hull City (£151m) all outspent United during the same period.

Martínez specifically questioned the leadership of Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada, stating that the club cannot continue to simply change managers. Carrick’s current run of form is statistically worse than the final stretches of predecessors Ruben Amorim and Erik ten Hag, who were both dismissed after winning two of their final seven fixtures. Amorim was fired in January following a draw against Leeds United, which is the same opponent Manchester United faces this coming Sunday.