Lisandro Martinez says he 'has to be ready' for clash with Haaland in Manchester derby

Lisandro Martinez has called for cool heads and humility against Manchester City as the Manchester United defender prepares to resume battle with Erling Haaland.

Old Trafford hosts the biggest game of the Premier League weekend on Sunday, when Michael Carrick will look to repeat January’s 2-0 victory in his first match in charge as Enzo Maresca brings their rivals across town.

City look to be in a stronger spot heading into the derby, having won their first three Premier League matches and opened their Champions League campaign with a win away to Porto on Tuesday.

United’s start has been patchier, with Carrick’s side collecting four points from a possible nine before making a morale-boosting return to European football’s top competition as Sabah were dispatched 4-0 on Thursday.

“I’m happy with the performance and with the clean sheet,” Martinez said after his goal wrapped up victory.

“I’m a defender and if I score it’s good, if I don’t score it doesn’t matter. For me, it’s important to get the three points and winning and playing good football, that’s the most important for me and that’s it.

“For sure when you win your confidence is going up, you know, but now we have to be calm, we have to be humble and enjoy, and then we have to think about the derby that is really important for us.”

Martinez impressed in United’s derby triumph eight months ago, when the 5ft 9in defender won a duel with the towering Haaland that was highlighted in the build-up by club greats Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

The latter joked the City striker “would pick Martinez up and run with him” like a “dad after school running down the road with a little toddler” before Scholes laughed and said that “he’d score then throw him in the net”.

When that impressive display against Haaland was put to him, the Argentina international said: “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.”

One key difference is that is the first Manchester derby since Pep Guardiola was succeeded by Maresca, with another being the fact City have had two extra days to prepare.

United benefited on that front in January but Martinez downplayed the impact – “it is what it is, we can’t change it,” he said – and insisted he relishes the challenge of such a schedule.

“This is what we want, playing every three days, playing in all the competitions,” he said.

“This is what we’ve wanted for a long time, you know, and now we are ready. We have to recover now and this is the standard that we want as a team.”

United played just 40 matches in all competitions last season, having missed out on European football before falling at the first hurdle of both domestic cups.

A third-place finish and Champions League return made it a positive end to the campaign, but Martinez was coy when asked whether they can kick on this term.

“It’s too early to say that,” he said. “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.”