Lisandro Martínez limped off the pitch in the first half of the World Cup Final, and Argentina’s task against Spain got even more difficult.
“Lisandro Martínez had to be replaced due to a muscular injury,” reported the Argentine media outlet Sitio Andino.
Martinez was already on a yellow card at the time of his injury. The score was still 0-0 when Martínez went down, waved toward the bench, and left Lionel Scaloni no choice but to send on Nicolás Otamendi. Nobody around the match had confirmed the exact injury moments later. He just went down and asked out, then walked to the tunnel before any official word arrived.
Fans online reacted instantly. User NathSalt1 flagged the moment before broadcasters had even settled on a replay angle, and another account, GoldenCryptt, captured the same alarm spreading through the Argentina fans. A third post, from user maneeshsaxena, echoed the same uncertainty that gripped Argentina’s bench. Nobody yet knew what they were dealing with.
Lisandro Martínez’s Exit Tests Argentina’s Back Line
Otamendi is 38 years old, so Argentina now leans on a veteran built for a different kind of tournament experience, in the single biggest match since the 2022 World Cup Final, against a Spain side that arrived in the final loaded with attacking talent of its own.
Martínez had been Argentina’s most dynamic defender through the knockout rounds, someone who started three of Argentina’s four matches in this tournament and turned in a goal-and-assist performance against Cape Verde that kept the run alive. Losing him mid-final forces Scaloni to rework a defensive shape built specifically around Martínez’s ability to break lines with a pass, not just win a tackle.
Spain’s attack, fronted by Lamine Yamal, was always going to punish hesitation. Whatever Otamendi lacks in the ball-playing instincts Martínez brings, he compensates for with a résumé built across three previous World Cups — experience Scaloni will need immediately, with no time to ease his replacement into the moment.
Martínez Has Been Here Before
Durability has hounded Martínez’s career, and moments like this one are exactly why. He ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in February 2025, an injury that sidelined him roughly nine months and, according to the defender himself, nearly ended his playing days. A metatarsal fracture in 2023 and a string of calf and foot strains before that had already made him one of the more injury-tested defenders in Europe. He described the darkest stretch of the ACL recovery in blunt terms.
“When I got injured, I fell into complete disarray. The pain was unbearable. That’s enough — I don’t want to suffer any more, I want to be well, I want to enjoy myself,” Martínez said, according to comments quoted by Sports Mole.
He came back from a calf strain that cost him roughly 45 days this past spring, as well, then arrived at this World Cup having made only 19 appearances for Manchester United all season, starting just 14. None of it stopped Scaloni from starting him anyway, and none of it stopped Martínez from scoring the extra-time winner against Cape Verde earlier in the knockout round.
Martínez has credited the birth of his daughter and Lionel Messi’s own history of pushing through setbacks as the reasons he kept going when retirement felt easier. Whatever injury forced him off Sunday adds another chapter to that pattern — a career built on setbacks that somehow keep resolving into big moments. Argentina will simply need one more of those turnarounds, and fast, with a World Cup title still on the line.
Lisandro Martinez Injury Update: Argentina Star Exits World Cup Final Early