Watch: Luke Shaw saves Mount from Lisandro Martinez battering

Planet Football • 24 Oct 2022

Erik ten Hag has created the best team spirit seen at Manchester United since the era of Sir Alex Ferguson as witnessed in Luke Shaw coming to the defence of Lisandro Martinez at Chelsea on Saturday – by stopping him from giving Mason Mount a battering.

United travelled to Stamford Bridge full of confidence following their brilliant performance against Tottenham in their previous outing.

And Ten Hag’s side looked to build upon their 2-0 victory with a dominant first-half display at Chelsea, with a number of United players impressing observers with their forward-thinking and guile.

But things threatened to boil over when Martinez clashed with Mount in the 37th minute. The United defender fell to the ground while trying to keep the ball in play at the byline.

Mount tried to take the ball in but Martinez threw his body in front of the ball and shielded it away from the England international. Mount ended up giving a foul away.

Martinez then gave the 23-year-old a little shove after the foul had been given. This triggered Mount, who immediately squared up to the Argentina centre-back.

But, just as it looked like it was all going to kick off and viewers across the world reached for the popcorn, Luke Shaw quickly got between the pair and pushed his England team-mate away.

And we reckon Mount should be extremely thankful to Shaw; Martinez had been staring him out with the simmering venom that earnt him the nickname ‘Butcher of Amsterdam’ at his previous club Ajax.

United manager Ten Hag was pleased with his side’s display during the 1-1 draw, telling the official club website: “I think it was a good game. In the first half, we dominated the game.

“But also, that is why the opponent switched their system. And they made it a little more difficult for us, like we saw in the last minutes of the first half. In the second half, I think it was even. It was a battle between two teams of the same height. And in the end, I think a point was justified.

“It was deserved. It was tough, when you get so short for time, you get 1-0 down, I think it is really difficult after the fourth game in 10 days to fight back. But the team found their energy and their strength and fought back. And that’s really big for this team.”

Shaw backing Martinez to deal with Mount 😂 pic.twitter.com/RE4krZyelG

— 💎 (@utdshaq1) October 22, 2022

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