Rio Ferdinand reveals how Sir Alex Ferguson would have reacted to Lisandro Martinez's rant

Lisandro Martinez would have been ‘gone’ under Sir Alex Ferguson, says Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand

There is ‘not a chance’ Sir Alex Ferguson would have stood for Lisandro Martinez’s comments following Manchester United’s defeat to Atletico Madrid – and the defender would likely have been moved on.

That’s according to Rio Ferdinand, who, on his YouTube channel, recalled how the likes of Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jaap Stam were all ‘gone’ after going public with similarly scathing remarks in years gone by at Old Trafford.

Martinez’s explosive rant came after the Red Devils were consigned to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, the club’s fifth match without a win in what has been a desperately disappointing start to the new season.

‘I have to control myself a lot but sometimes it’s the reflection, the mirror of how are club is at the moment,’ Martinez told Amazon Prime’s Gabriel Clarke shortly after the loss, in which the visitors were reduced to ten men following Leny Yoro’s sending off.

‘We had a fantastic season last season and now we expect more from the top, from up, to bring more players to compete, because many teams bring many players as well. Today Atletico have an amazing team and deserve to win today.

‘I expect more. I expect more from our technical director, but I have to be honest we as players have to do more, but it’s important that we make a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night.

‘Last season we did everything to create a base to build an amazing base, but this is something to be honest and to prove something. It’s annoying, disappointing, to come here and I’m not seeing my team trying to get an amazing result here, it’s disappointing.’

Ten-man United were swept aside by Atletico Madrid (Picture: Martinez/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

Martinez took aim at United’s hierarchy in his post-match interview (Picture: Shutterstock)

Martinez was keen to defend Michael Carrick as much as he could and stressed that United’s problems were unlikely to be fixed by a change of managers.

‘I don’t think so. He does his best,’ the Argentina international added.

‘But every season is different, you can’t say what you did last season. Teams know how you play, every detail, if you don’t change next season, it’s a big problem.’

Martinez continued: ‘Changing, changing, changing managers, but what about other areas? I can’t say more. Tonight it’s easy to say the coach, it’s easy to say the players but also we have to say other areas.’

There had been a renewed sense of optimism amongst United’s fanbase heading into the new campaign on the back of the club’s third-placed finish under Carrick last term.

It saw Carrick handed the job on a full-time basis in the summer, with supporters hopeful that a return to something resembling their former glory could potentially be on the horizon.

But the timing of Martinez’s comments after yet another setback for United have done little to dampen feelings of an early-season crisis at the Theatre of Dreams, leaving Carrick under intense pressure ahead of the side’s trip to Leeds this weekend.

Asked how United’s dressing room will have reacted to Martinez’s post-match interview, Ferdinand replied: ‘I think there’s a couple of things you have to consider before you make a detailed assessment.

Yoro was sent off in a nightmare second half for the Red Devils (Picture: Reuters)

‘I think you’ve got to understand what the relationship he has in the changing room is, whether this has been discussed between the players, so the new signings like [Youri] Tielemans, [Carlos] Baleba, [Andrey] Santos, and the guys are fully aware of the context of what he’s saying.

‘Has he spoken to the management? Those questions I think you’d need to have the answers to and I think if I was a player, I’d have liked him to have come to me first or address the dressing room first before he spoke publicly like that.

‘These things don’t end well, man. They don’t end well. Roy Keane spoke publicly, there could have been no more influence, bigger player than him, who was the captain at the time, and he left days later.

Carrick finds himself under intense pressure ahead of United’s trip to Leeds (Picture: Getty)

‘Cristiano Ronaldo called out individuals within the club: the manager, the ownership and he left straight after.

‘Ralf Rangnick looked like he was going to be there for a couple of years as interim manager and he called out things that needed to be done… and I’m not disagreeing with some of what these guys have said by the way. I’m just saying that this is what happens when someone talks out about the hierarchy of the football club.’

Ferdinand believes United’s summer signings have every right to be angry with Martinez if it transpires that the centre-back had not spoken with the rest of the dressing room before he publicly voiced his grievances.

‘First and foremost, hopefully he’s had a conversation and the players are well aware of how he felt,’ the ex-United and England defender added.

Lisandro Martínez did NOT hold back after United's loss to Atletico 😬👀 pic.twitter.com/OGo25Pzd30— Prime Video Sport UK (@primevideosport) October 13, 2026

‘I don’t think it’s called for for the players to be hearing this firstly in the media rather than face to face with one of your team-mates, which makes it an awkward situation in the dressing room.

‘I’m just thinking about it as a player. How would I feel if I was one of the new guys who have come in? One, I don’t know if they’re at the level but two, also, we haven’t got enough players to compete at this level.

‘So I’d definitely be going [as a new player]: what does he think of me? That’s the question I’d be thinking.’

Ferguson would not have stood for Martinez’s remarks, says Ferdinand (Picture: Getty)

Ferdinand went on: ‘Do you know what? Lisandro Martinez is a straight-up guy, this tells you that and I think he’ll meet this head-on.

‘Seeing the reaction, I think he’ll then go into the team and go, “Listen, guys, this is how it is, this is what I said. If it came across differently to how I really meant it because of the language barrier then so be it but this is what I really meant”, and I think he’ll probably do that.’

Asked if Ferguson would have allowed such behaviour when he was manager of United, Ferdinand replied: ‘Not a chance.

‘If that happened in our time and I’ve told you before, when players spoke out against other players or the hierarchy at the club, they were gone.

Atleti were much the better side in the Spanish capital (Picture: Canales/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)

‘Roy Keane, a different way. But David Beckham maybe just wasn’t doing the things the manager wanted… gone.

‘Jaap Stam wrote a book and hammered a couple of players… gone. He was at the peak of his powers, the best centre-back in the league, and Cristiano Ronaldo and Ralf Rangnick as well.’

Ferdinand remembered how he was once given Ferguson’s infamous hairdryer treatment after contesting a decision the Scot had made during a Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.

He explained: ‘I bring it back to myself and I think about what it would be like in my situation. Was I ever in a situation where I called out the club?

‘The manager [Ferguson] made a substitution against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, I thought it was the wrong substitution and I was going crazy on the pitch, in the tunnel, in the changing room. The manager completely shut me down.

Carrick’s men are without a win in five matches in all competitions (Picture: Reuters)

‘I went in the next day and apologised because, in the end, I thought I was wrong, I shouldn’t have gestured and made it clear how I felt on the pitch in the glare of everybody else. I should have gone in the changing room and done it in the changing room which I spoke to him about the next day when I tried to apologise to him.

‘He didn’t accept it, he still hammered me, still fined me, but it’s a bit different. I didn’t come out in the media and personally get at anybody.

‘But he made me know where my place was and not to do that again.’

Ferdinand, who shared a dressing room with Carrick for eight years at Old Trafford, hopes his former team-mate is given the opportunity to turn the dire situation around.