Cristian Romero has hit back at Gary Neville over the pundit’s criticism of his and Lisandro Martinez’s centre-back partnership prior to the England-Argentina semi-final clash.
The former England right-back labelled Argentina’s Romero and Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez as ‘the best, worst centre-back pairing in the world’ during the build-up to the match in Atlanta on Wednesday night.
Despite picking up yellow cards, the pair were resolute at the back, limiting England to just two shots on target as the champions edged the contest and reached their second successive final.
Romero and Martinez have been at the heart of all but one of Argentina’s matches this summer, which was the final group-stage match against Jordan, and deserve credit for yet another triumphant run to a World Cup final.
And Romero couldn’t resist reminding Neville of this after the match, saying: ‘Lisandro and me, we were on fire before the game because of what Gary Neville said.
‘In England, they love to speak before. We send him a big hug… I hope I’ll not be like him when I retire, I will not criticise the players. The only thing that I hope for is that when I retire, I am not that stupid.
‘Because at the end of the day, we are doing our best for our national team. Sometimes it goes right for us, sometimes it goes badly, but we are just happy to be in a World Cup final again.
‘In England, they love to speak before. We send him a big hug… I hope I’ll not be like him when I retire, I will not criticise the players,’ Romero said in response to Neville’s criticism
Romero and Martinez have been at the heart of all but one of Argentina’s matches this summer, and deserve credit for yet another triumphant run to a World Cup final
Prior to the match against Argentina, Neville had claimed that Romero and Martinez were the ‘best-worst centre-back pairing in the world’ย
‘I think we are making history. For us, it is something really huge, and we feel the significance of this shirt like no one else.’
Neville, 51, earned 85 caps during his 12-year England career – but never made it to a World Cup final.
Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Neville said before the clash: ‘(Romero and Martinez) seem to give a goal away between them every single game.
‘But you watch them, they are scoring goals, heading the ball, they’re literally everywhere. It’s incredible.
‘I call them the best, worst centre-back pairing in the world. Because they absolutely, at times, can be unbelievable, but the next minute it’s the sublime to the ridiculous.’
This isn’t the first time that United’s Martinez has been on the receiving end of criticism from former Reds, with the Argentinian centre-back left incensed by Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes’ comments about him leading up to the Manchester derby in January.
Butt said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast that Erling Haaland would ‘pick Martinez up and run with him’ and treat the Argentine like a ‘little toddler’, while Scholes suggested the Norway forward would ‘throw him in the net’ after scoring.
As it turned out, United impressively eased past Manchester City in Michael Carrick’s first game in charge, with Martinez shackling Haaland in a particularly impressive defensive display.
Asked about Scholes’ comment after the match, Martinez said: ‘Honestly, he can say whatever he wants. I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don’t care.
‘And I think, for me, I respect the relationship when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on television, but when you see them here face to face, no one says anything to your face.
‘So, for me, I don’t really care what they say. I just put the focus on my performance, the performance of the team, and I give everything to this club until my last day.’
Argentina face Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final (8pm UK) as they look to win the tournament for a fourth time, while England take on France in Saturday’s third-place match (10pm).
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