Lisandro Martinez, the Manchester United centre-back, will be out for the remainder of the season due to a fractured metatarsal bone in his foot. The injury was sustained during United’s Europa League quarter-final match against Sevilla, in which Erik ten Hag’s team were reduced to 10 men when Martinez had to be helped off in the 86th minute with United leading 2-1.
Raphael Varane, Martinez’s centre-back partner, also suffered an injury and is expected to be out for several weeks. United’s manager sent his best wishes to both players for a speedy recovery.
Martinez, who won the World Cup with Argentina, was assisted off the pitch by his international team-mates, Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuna.
He has played in 27 of United’s Premier League matches this season since joining from Ajax in a deal worth up to £57m last July. Varane, who arrived at the club from Real Madrid in August 2021, has made 21 league appearances this season and was replaced by Harry Maguire during the match after picking up an injury just before half-time.
With nine Premier League games remaining, United are in fourth place and still in contention for both the Europa League and FA Cup. Ten Hag commented that the club has several decent centre-backs, with Maguire and Victor Lindelof being the likely options to fill in for Martinez and Varane.
Luke Shaw, who has played at centre-back this season, could also return on Sunday after missing the past two games due to a hamstring injury. However, United will be without their top scorer Marcus Rashford, who sustained a muscle injury in their win over Everton.
United will play against Sevilla in the return leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday before facing Brighton three days later in an FA Cup semi-final, for which Maguire is suspended.
