Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag revealed Martial “begged” to start in Man Utd’s derby win over City.
Ten Hag explained: “We decided — and he decided as well — to start. He begged to start.
“I knew the start would be so important in this game and he is really good at pressing and he is a really big element in our pressing.
“But I needed to re-evaluate at half-time and also to avoid him getting injured so we took him off, but it also had a negative impact on our game after half-time.”