Gary Neville doubles down on criticism of Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez after being called 'stupid': Pundit claims they make 'too many mistakes' and Argentina 'won because of Messi - not their centre-backs!'

Gary Neville

has doubled down on his criticism of Argentina's

Lisandro Martinez

and Cristian Romero after the Spurs star labelled the pundit 'stupid'.

Neville had described Martinez and Romero as the 'best, worst centre-back pairing in the world' ahead of Argentina's 2-1 win over

England

in the semi-finals of the World Cup on Wednesday.

The former

Man United

defender's comments sparked a response from Romero after their victory as he claimed the remarks had lit a 'fire' in the Argentine duo.

'Lisandro and me, we were on fire before the game because of what Gary Neville said,' Romero said.

'In England, they love to speak before. We send him a big hug... I hope I'll not be like him when I retire, I will not criticise the players. The only thing that I hope for is that when I retire, I am not that stupid.'

But Neville refused to back down as he highlighted the number of goals Argentina have conceded in the knockout phase of the tournament, the mistakes made by Martinez and Romero and how

Lionel Messi

- and not the defensive pair - won the game for his team in Atlanta.

'Just to add the extra words that I said, I said they give goals away and they've conceded six in four matches in the knockouts,' Neville said on Sky Sports.

'If they didn't have Lionel Messi up front... those two should go and hug him every single minute of every single day because to be fair he's had to pull them out of the mire when they've conceded two against Egypt, two against Cape Verde and one against Switzerland and England.

'But then I did go on to say that they are incredible, and those were my exact words, and their force of nature, how they go and try to win games for their country... they go from the sublime to the ridiculous.'

Neville also sought to remind Romero that he was in a Spurs team which narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League.

'Romero played in a team last year that nearly went down and conceded 65 goals, he added.

'So I think I know what I'm talking about when I watch a player.

'He's very talented, as is Lisandro Martinez, but they do make mistakes - lots of them.

'But they are a force of nature. They go and win every header in the attacking box, and sometimes in the defensive box, and I just see a contradiction in games between that.

'Romero has won the World Cup and got incredible achievements but without Lionel Messi last night, and without Messi in the last two tournaments... last night he was an absolute genius.

'Argentina didn't win last night because of the centre-backs - they won last night because of their great player who is arguably the greatest of all time.'

This isn't the first time that Martinez has been on the receiving end of criticism from former United stars. He was left incensed by Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes' comments about him leading up to the Manchester derby in January.

Butt said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast that Erling Haaland would 'pick Martinez up and run with him' and treat the Argentine like a 'little toddler', while Scholes suggested the Norway forward would 'throw him in the net' after scoring.

Lisandro Martinez and Cristian Romero have been locked in a war of words with Gary Neville

United impressively eased past Manchester City in Michael Carrick's first game in charge, with Martinez shackling Haaland in a particularly impressive defensive display.

Asked about Scholes' comment after the match, Martinez said: 'Honestly, he can say whatever he wants. I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don't care.

'And I think, for me, I respect the relationship when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on television, but when you see them here face to face, no one says anything to your face.

'So, for me, I don't really care what they say. I just put the focus on my performance, the performance of the team, and I give everything to this club until my last day.'

Argentina will face Spain in Sunday's World Cup final in New Jersey, while England take on France in the third-place play-off in Miami on Saturday.

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