Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez has revealed that during the darkest moments of his recovery from a torn ACL, he seriously considered walking away from football.
“After the first two or three weeks, I didn’t want to play football anymore. Because I’d already gone through the foot fracture, and now the knee … I said, ‘That’s it, I don’t want to know anything else,'” the Argentina international said in an interview with AFA Estudio.
The 2022 World Cup winner’s injury woes began with a foot injury at the end of the 2022-23 season before a series of problems limited him to just 11 Premier League appearances the following campaign.
He then suffered a torn ACL in February 2025, with the subsequent surgery leaving him sidelined for 10 months.
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“When I get injured, I lose my balance completely because the pain is unbearable,” Martínez explained.
“My first reaction was: ‘I’m going home, I’m going to be with my family in Argentina. Enough, I don’t want to suffer anymore, I want to be well, I want to enjoy life.’ But when you are unbalanced, you can say anything because you aren’t connected with yourself. I obviously accepted those three weeks of mourning, where I wasn’t myself.”
The rehabilitation process forced the 27-year-old to “reinvent” himself. He noted that during the height of his recovery, the persistent pain and the fear of never returning to his former level.
“You have to reinvent yourself in every sense: physically, mentally and personally. You feel like you aren’t a football player,” he noted.
Martínez credits his inner circle and professional psychological support for helping him persevere, but highlights one life-changing event as his primary motivation: the birth of his daughter.
“What made the difference was the birth of my daughter. I got injured and a month later she was born, and I said: ‘No, no … there is no chance I’m giving up.’ She was my engine every day. I went to every training session to give my best purely and exclusively for my daughter.”
The centre-back returned to the pitch on Nov. 30 against Crystal Palace. Since then, he has steadily integrated back into the United lineup and resumed training with the Argentine national team under Lionel Scaloni — a clear sign of the coaching staff’s confidence in him as the 2026 World Cup approaches.
“I feel very well. I was a bit surprised because I thought coming back would be harder, but we managed my minutes well; it was all very progressive. The club did a great job and that helped a lot in making me feel good now. Physically and mentally, I am better than ever.”
Martinez chose to find perspective in his hardship. “I started to reflect. Let’s see, what is this trying to show me? What can I learn from this situation? How can I improve personally? I used it as a positive message. Sometimes, you have to take a beating to learn and start over. Sometimes you think you’re up in the clouds, and that’s when life — or whatever it may be — sends these messages to say: ‘Look, this isn’t the way.'”
“Obviously, it’s a bit strong to say ‘thanks’ to this injury because nobody likes being injured, but thanks to this injury I can say today that I have changed a lot as a person. My perspective on life: I value life more, the weather, the smell of the grass, a ball, stepping onto the pitch — everything,” he concluded.
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