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Manchester United may be mindful over a small knock sustained by defender Lisandro Martinez in Argentina’s Copa America final triumph over Colombia last night.
The centre-back managed to play all 120 minutes of the showpiece in Miami, with Inter striker Lautaro Martinez scoring in extra-time to see the world champions to a second successive continental title.
But an incident in the first-half will have caused concern as the defender had to receive physio treatment after Colombia forward Jhon Cordoba caught the defender while trying to get to a cross. Martinez subsequently received attention to his left foot, while his injury last season was to his right foot.
There will nevertheless be a grain of concern over Martinez’s fitness given his injury woes of the past 12 months, having played just 14 United games last season due to three significant setbacks. The first, a recurrence of a foot metatarsal issue, saw him sidelined for three months.
He had played through a full 90 minutes against Bayern Munich in the Champions League prior to that spell out, and it will be hoped Martinez has not exacerbated any problem by playing the full match length against Colombia.
Kick-off for the final had been delayed by 80 minutes due to crowd trouble outside of the Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, with reports suggesting that ticketless spectators had tried to force their way into the ground.
Liverpool midfielder Alex Mac Allister had to intervene to help his family safely gain entry into the stadium before the game started. Criticism was also levelled at organisers for permitting half-time to last 25 minutes for a performance from Colombian pop star Shakira.
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