Lisandro Martinez demands greater Manchester United investment after Atletico Madrid defeat

Lisandro Martinez criticised Manchester United’s hierarchy after their 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid, saying the club must sign more players to compete with Europe’s leading teams.

The Argentina international specifically called on director of football Jason Wilcox to strengthen the squad after Pablo Barrios scored inside the opening minute at the Metropolitano and Ademola Lookman added a second in the 79th minute.

“I expect more from our technical director. I have to be honest. And also, as players, we have to do more,” Martinez told Amazon Prime.

The defeat extended Michael Carrick’s side’s winless run to five matches in all competitions and left them with three points in the Champions League league phase. United began their campaign with a 4-0 victory over Sabah FK.

“We had a fantastic season last season and now we expect more from the top, from upstairs, to bring in more players to compete, because many teams have brought in many players as well,” Martinez added.

At Atletico’s Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, Alex Baena broke down the left before crossing for Barrios to finish after only 50 seconds. Bryan Mbeumo went close for United, forcing a save from Jan Oblak and shooting narrowly wide, while Marcus Rashford also missed an opportunity.

Atletico had a goal disallowed when Johnny Cardoso’s effort was ruled out for a Marcos Llorente handball. Julian Alvarez later struck the post before United defender Leny Yoro was shown a red card in the 74th minute for denying Jonathan David a goalscoring opportunity. Lookman scored five minutes later after David’s shot had been saved.

United are back in the Champions League after a two-season absence, having finished bottom of their group in their previous appearance in 2023-24.

Elsewhere, Nicolo Tresoldi scored three times as Club Brugge defeated Inter Milan 4-3 at San Siro. Tresoldi opened from the penalty spot after Hakan Calhanoglu fouled Carlos Forbs, with Lautaro Martinez equalising before half-time.

A defensive misunderstanding allowed Forbs to put the ball through Josep Martinez’s legs, leaving Tresoldi with an empty net. He completed his hat-trick in the 74th minute, while Martinez scored again seven minutes later. Romeo Vermant made it 4-2 in the 87th minute before Ange-Yoan Bonny’s late reply.

Bayern Munich recovered from 2-0 down to lead Viking Stavanger, but Michael Olise was sent off and Herman Johan Haugen equalised in added time for a 3-3 draw. Harry Kane scored twice, taking his run to nine successive Champions League matches with a goal, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo’s 11.

Barcelona beat Galatasaray 4-1 in Istanbul after trailing to Alexey Batrakov. Joao Cancelo equalised, before Lamine Yamal set up Fermin Lopez and Anthony Gordon. Karim Adeyemi completed the scoring.

Arsenal beat Lille 3-0 after Jurrien Timber scored in the 64th minute. Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka added the other goals.

Villarreal beat Napoli 3-1, while Brajan Gruda gave RB Leipzig a 1-0 win over PSV Eindhoven after Maarten Vandevoordt saved Ivan Perisic’s early penalty.

Sabah Baku beat Slavia Prague 2-0, and Sporting defeated Lens by the same score.