Кристиан Ромеро шүүмжлэгчдэд хариу барилаа

Cristian Romero loves being aggressive with opposition strikers but it was the English media he lashed out at following Argentina’s dramatic World Cup semi-final victory.

Before the game, former England and Manchester United defender turned television pundit Gary Neville described Romero and Lisandro Martinez as the “best, worst centre-half pairing in the world” and added that “at times they can be unbelievable but the next, it’s the sublime to the ridiculous.”

“They seem to give a goal away between them every single game,” Neville said about the pair on The Overlap earlier this week. “But you watch them (for Argentina), they are scoring goals, heading the ball, they’re literally everywhere — it’s incredible.”

Romero rarely speaks to the media but is unafraid to be brutally honest when he does. Since he joined Tottenham Hotspur from Atalanta in 2021, initially on loan before the deal became permanent for £43million ($57.8m) a year later, Romero has occasionally criticised the club’s senior figures in public, so taking down Neville was never going to be an issue.

“The only thing that I hope for is that when I retire, I am not that stupid,” Romero replied when asked about Neville’s remark by DSports after beating England. “Hopefully, I won’t criticise a player or anyone.

“Because at the end of the day, we are doing our best for our national team. Sometimes it goes right for us, sometimes badly, but we are just happy to be in a World Cup final again. I think we are making history, for us it is something really huge, and we feel the significance of this shirt like no one else.”

Romero and Martinez have stirred up a lot of headlines during their time in England with Spurs and Manchester United, respectively, but now they are one step away from becoming back-to-back Copa America and World Cup winners for Argentina.

The origins of Romero and Martinez’s partnership can be traced back to a friendly in Buenos Aires a decade ago. They played with each other for the first time as Argentina Under-19s beat their Japanese counterparts. Lautaro Martinez, who scored the stoppage-time winner against England, was on the scoresheet that day. At the beginning of 2017, they made a few appearances together at the Under-20 South American Championship in Ecuador.

Martinez made his debut for the senior side in a friendly against Venezuela in March 2019. However, they both made their first competitive appearance in June 2021. Romero started in a 1-1 draw with Chile, and Martinez joined him in defence for the second half of a World Cup qualifier. The partnership has been broken up a few times since then, but that is mainly because of Martinez’s struggles with injury. He only started two of their games at the last World Cup as head coach Lionel Scaloni preferred to partner Romero with former Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi.

One source close to Martinez — who, like all of those spoken to for this article, unless otherwise noted, wished to remain anonymous as they were not authorised to speak publicly — believes he has a special connection with Romero because they are the same age (28) and have played together for such a long time. It has given them a unique and intricate understanding of each other’s game. They are both comfortable on the ball under pressure and capable of playing line-breaking passes. They take it in turns to push up high on opposition forwards. Sources say they almost don’t need to speak; they know each other so well that a glance can be enough.

Their friendship extends away from the pitch. Along with Nahuel Molina, they are known within the Argentina squad as the ‘Palo Santo gang.’ Palo Santo is a tree found in South American rainforests, and the incense is believed to ward off mala energia (bad energy). Following Argentina’s defeat to Saudi Arabia in the opening game of the last World Cup, the trio went around the team’s camp from room to room with a piece of palo santo in an effort to remove the negative vibes.

Romero was appointed as Spurs’ captain last summer by then head coach Thomas Frank. He is not the most vocal leader and prefers to let his actions do the talking. He played a crucial role for Spurs on their way to winning the Europa League in 2025. At half-time in the final, when they were leading Manchester United 1-0, Romero rallied his team-mates and ensured everybody stayed focused. Martinez missed the game through injury.

Romero popped up with some crucial goals for Spurs last season, including stoppage-time equalisers against Newcastle United and Burnley. He only played once for Spurs following Roberto De Zerbi’s appointment in March after suffering a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury in a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland. A few weeks afterwards, De Zerbi revealed the pair spoke regularly over the phone, and Romero would visit his office every morning despite being unavailable to feature.

By comparison, sources say Martinez is known for ordering younger players out of areas he deems the domain of senior professionals at United’s training ground. That edge is seen as a positive, which keeps people on their toes.

Argentina’s defence was scrutinised midway through the World Cup after they conceded two goals against Cape Verde and Egypt. Martinez and Romero responded by both scoring against Cape Verde. The former also produced a wondrous assist for Lionel Messi.

Martinez enjoys talking to his side’s attackers and highlighting spaces on the pitch which are opening up. He spoke to Messi during the hydration break about the run and move, which eventually led to the latter opening the scoring against Cape Verde.

Martinez is particularly loving this World Cup campaign because, for a long time, his involvement was uncertain. In 2023, he missed seven months in total after having two operations on his metatarsal. The following year, a knee injury forced him to miss four months. In February 2025, he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and did not return until November.

“I start thinking about what happened with my injury, and I feel like crying,” he told reporters in the mixed zone after the 3-2 extra time victory over Cape Verde. “I don’t even know where I stand. If my daughter (Aurora) hadn’t been born right when I got injured, I don’t know if I’d be here playing today, and today I scored a goal in a World Cup.”

Neville’s frustration with Romero is probably linked to his disciplinary record. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Romero has been sent off six times, which is more than any other Premier League player. He missed six league games through suspension last season, and the division’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel, which reviews refereeing decisions, judged that he should have been sent off in both games against Brentford for fouls on Brazilian forward Igor Thiago.

This is part of the risk with Romero’s front-footed style of defending. In the 2024-25 season, Romero and Martinez ranked in the top five for the Premier League’s most active centre-backs with 10.3 and 9.2 defensive actions per 1,000 opponent touches, respectively. Romero was at the top of the pile in the 2025-26 campaign with 11.2, while Martinez dropped down to 45th (3.1), although this can be partially explained by his limited game time because of injury.

Martinez has only been sent off once for Manchester United, for pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair in April’s defeat to Leeds United. Remarkably, Romero has never been dismissed in 57 appearances for Argentina. They both seem to find it easier to control their fiery emotions and play with more tactical discipline when they represent their country.

There have been question marks about Romero’s conduct off the pitch. He planned to watch his boyhood club Belgrano take on River Plate in a championship decider instead of attending Tottenham’s final game of the season against Everton, when they needed a point to avoid relegation, before performing a U-turn.

In February, he uploaded a post on social media shortly after the winter transfer window closed, which said it was “unbelievable but true and disgraceful” that Spurs only had 11 senior players available for a 2-2 draw with Manchester City. The Athletic reported in the same month that Romero turned up late to training the day after Spurs lost 4-1 to Arsenal in November, despite Frank lecturing the squad in the dressing room about standards dropping. The club denied this was the case.

Martinez has experienced his own moments of controversy. In December, he squared up to the then-United head coach Ruben Amorim during a training session. Martinez considered himself ready to start and, feeling Amorim was overlooking him, made his point in what has been described as an “intense” manner. Martinez went on to wear the armband for Amorim’s final two games, demonstrating how the head coach admired his energy.

The pair’s form at this tournament could impact what happens next to them at club level. Martinez only has a year left on his contract at Old Trafford, but there is an option for an extra 12 months. Martinez’s performances could put him in a better negotiating position for a new deal ahead of a season where Manchester United are back in the Champions League and look more stable under Michael Carrick.

Romero signed a new long-term contract with Spurs last year, but The Athletic reported in June that there is a strong chance he will leave this summer. Spurs have signed two centre-backs — Romero’s international team-mate Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke — as they prepare for De Zerbi’s first full season in charge.

Winning the World Cup would surely boost the options available to Romero, and it would give him and Martinez the last laugh over Neville.