Nicky Butt, the former Manchester United midfielder, has criticised Lisandro Martínez for waving a Falkland Islands banner while representing Argentina.
Martínez, who was sent off in United's 2-0 defeat by Chelsea on Saturday, was among a group of Argentina players who produced a banner saying " Las Malvinas son Argentinas " (The Falklands are Argentine) after beating England 2-1 in the World Cup semi-final .
Martínez, who called out United's hierarchy over their transfer strategy despite his own poor form, has been heavily criticised by Butt, who said the centre-back would have "had his head ripped off" if he had behaved like that in United dressing rooms of the past.
Butt, who played against Argentina for England at the 2002 World Cup, said Martínez did not deserve any sympathy: "He lives in our country and he's dancing around with an Argentina flag at the World Cup. What are you doing? And then you expect people to pat you on the back when you've had a bad game.
"Some of these people need to understand, so what if you earn £200,000 a week driving your Rolls Royce through your little village thinking you're King Dick? You can do that all you want but you can't have people tapping you on the back when you're playing so bad and you're slagging people off."
Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Butt tore into Martínez for his display against Chelsea and the interview that followed United's 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atlético Madrid, when he said he "expected more" from Jason Wilcox, United's technical director.
Martinez was sent off after conceding a penalty in Manchester United's 2-0 defeat by Chelsea - Getty Images/Catherine Ivill
Butt said: "You can't speak to these players because they get all touchy [about] it. Then he's got the audacity to go into an interview and slag off the powers-that-be about buying players when he's not even playing well himself. And if they were going to buy players, he's one of the first they'd replace.
"He threw it in the other day [against Chelsea] with that elbow. The reason why he did it [is] because he's not strong enough to defend properly. Back in my day, he would have completely had his head ripped off. Everyone would have said, 'who do you think you are talking about me like that with the performance you're putting in?'
"And even if he was European player of the year, you still don't speak that way about your team-mates. He has gone from – I don't know why – but someone who the fans love to someone who the fans want out of their club and he's absolutely killed himself."
Martínez was not punished for his involvement with the Falklands banner, but Argentina were fined £235,000 for what was described as a political demonstration.
