Lisandro Martinez injury update issued by Argentina boss as Man Utd star left in pain

Lionel Scaloni has explained why flew halfway around the world only to be ruled out of Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers by injury.

The defender endured a nightmare trip to South America earlier this week, with a group of players . Martinez, Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez, defender Cristian Romero, midfielder Enzo Fernandez and Facundo Buonanotte had a connecting flight cancelled, delaying their arrival with the national team.

To make matters worse, when Martinez arrived he was assessed by the team’s medical staff and deemed unfit to take part in the games against Paraguay and Peru. The reason was , which had left him unable to 'function normally'.

But Argentina boss Scaloni has now explained that the problem is actually with his back and a knock picked up in on Sunday. “We didn't expect the case of Lisandro,” Scaloni said at a press conference.

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“We saw that he had suffered a blow to his back, but apparently, he had no problem, just pain. When he arrived here, the pain increased a bit, he underwent tests and is not fit to be here.”

against Paraguay on Thursday as goals from Antonio Sanabria and Omar Alderete helping the hosts win in Asuncion. Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring for the champions before Paraguay fought back to take the three points.

"I'm not here to criticise my players, I'm here to support them. We knew it was going to be a tough game. We're here to keep going and give confidence to many of the new players," Scaloni said after the loss.

"We played well in the first half, but the first action at the start of the second made things difficult. We have to congratulate our opponents, who defended very well. We are playing and we hope to get back on track.”

Argentina are still top of the South America qualifying group, on 22 points from 11 games, and will aim to bounce back when they play Peru on Wednesday in Buenos Aires. Martinez will miss that match, but will be hoping to be back fit for United’s next match, against Ipswich on November 24.

That will be a landmark match, with Ruben Amorim taking charge for the first time since succeeding Erik ten Hag as manager. The Portuguese boss arrived in Manchester on Monday and has already begun putting his stamp on things after letting interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy leave.

Defence is an area of concern for Amorim, with and Tyrell Malacia to the pitch despite making progress on long-term injuries, while and Leny Yoro are also currently unavailable.

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