Erik ten Hag insists that Lisandro Martinez was "calm and okay" in the dressing room after suffering a worrying injury for Manchester United.
The Argentine defender, 25, was brought off on a stretcher in final minutes of United's deflating 2-2 draw with Sevilla in the Europa League quarter-finals. Martinez went down in pain while dribbling the ball shortly before Sevilla scored their first goal in a dramatic late comeback, leaving the Red Devils with 10 men in the latter stages and eventually setting up a mouthwatering second leg in southern Spain next Thursday.
By going off before the final whistle sounded, Martinez followed centre-back partner Raphael Varane into the treatment room and added to a growing list of injury concerns for Ten Hag. Player of the Season contender Marcus Rashford has already been ruled out 'for a few games', with an FA Cup semi-final clash with Brighton on the horizon after the second leg against Sevilla.
Fans are eager to learn the extent of the damage to the Argentina international, with his manager revealing after post-match: "I think he will not play on Sunday [away to Nottingham Forest ], it looks like that but I can't say what the diagnosis is and I prefer to wait and then we are clear and know exactly what it is.
"I have spoken to him and he's okay, he's calm. We are competing in three competitions so you need a squad. If Licha and [Raphael] Varane are not available on Sunday then others have to do it. We have seen Harry Maguire played a good game on Saturday and tonight also he played a really good game."
Have your say! Will Man Utd reach the Europa League semi-finals? Join the debate in the comments section.
In the aftermath of the draw, Ten Hag was criticised for his decision to use all of United's substitutes by the 81st minute while the score was still 2-0. The Dutchman, however, insists that his changes weren't the reason why his team collapsed and scored two unfortunate own goals. "I had to make them, there was no other way. Rapha was injured so I had to," Ten Hag affirmed.
" Anthony Martial – it was his first start after a long period so we had to make it around the 60 minutes. Then Bruno [Fernandes] – I got the warnings from the refs he was short before his second booking and the same for Antony, so I had to make the subs, I had no choice.
"We get the injury to Licha [Martinez]- not good. But both goals are really unlucky, two deflected. What can you do? Sometimes you have bad days and bad luck. Tonight was not our night."
