📅 October 20, 2026
Man United News: No Yoro for Como, Martínez a Doubt, Neville’s Fifth-Place Bar and the Leeds Penalty Row
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Three days before Como, United’s centre-back problem is the main story. Leny Yoro is suspended, Lisandro Martínez has a thigh problem, and the squad is still six games without a win. Off the pitch, Gary Neville has put a number on what Michael Carrick needs to reach, and two former referees have spent Monday arguing about Sunday at Elland Road.
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Como: no Yoro, Martínez a doubt
United play Como at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on Wednesday, kick-off 5:45pm UK, 12:45pm Eastern. Yoro misses it. He’s serving a one-match ban for the straight red he got as last man in the 2-0 defeat at Atlético, and Sports Mole lists him among the three players suspended for matchday three.
Martínez is the bigger worry. Carrick said after the Leeds game that he “felt his thigh a little bit”, which is why he came off at half-time. There’s been no scan result or timeline since. Read Man Utd calls him “a major concern” for Wednesday.
Patrick Dorgu, Manuel Ugarte and Benjamin Sesko are ruled out. Luke Shaw and Kobbie Mainoo, who both missed Leeds, are listed as doubts. If Yoro and Martínez are both out, the options next to Harry Maguire are Matthijs de Ligt, Ayden Heaven or Noussair Mazraoui moving inside. Carrick’s pre-match press conference should settle some of that.
Cesc Fàbregas’s Como are level with United on three points in the Champions League table. They beat RB Leipzig 4-1 on matchday one and lost 3-2 at Feyenoord last week. United beat Sabah 4-0, then lost in Madrid.
Neville: fifth is the bar
Neville used his podcast to set a target rather than a deadline. “Fifth is a must for Michael Carrick to continue to grow,” he said, before putting it in golf terms: “I would say fourth would be a birdie, fifth would be par, and sixth would be a bogey.”
He didn’t call for a sacking. He called Sunday’s draw “a stepping stone for Michael Carrick”, but added: “If they’re 13th in January, he’s got a problem because then you are what you are.” United are 13th now, on seven points from seven games. Liverpool are fifth on 12, so the gap to Neville’s par is five points with 31 games to play.
The Leeds penalty argument
The incident Leeds are still talking about came from a corner on 63 minutes. Ethan Ampadu went down under Maguire’s challenge, Darren England waved play on and VAR didn’t intervene. Keith Hackett, the former head of referees, told MOT Leeds News: “Maguire has committed a foul challenge and England should have penalised it with a penalty kick.” He also called Maguire “a serial offender at corner kicks”.
The other flashpoint went United’s way in a different sense. Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports’ Ref Watch that Gabriel Gudmundsson’s first-half challenge on Andrey Santos, which earned a yellow, carried a red-card risk: “I think if you make that challenge you run the risk of a red card all the time.” Santos needed treatment shortly afterwards and played on.
Daniel Farke took the point as a compliment to his own club: “It says a lot about what we’ve done over the last years that we’re right now slightly a bit disappointed with a point, just a point against Man United.” Our match report has the rest of Sunday.
What’s next
Carrick’s pre-match press conference comes before Como, and the Martínez scan will be the first thing he’s asked about. After Como, United host AFC Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday 25 October, 2pm UK.
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Sources: Yoro’s suspension from Sports Mole and Read Man Utd, which also has the Como kick-off, Martínez as “a major concern”, the Dorgu, Ugarte and Sesko absences and the Shaw and Mainoo doubts. Carrick’s Martínez quote via Roundtable Sports on Yahoo and Brit Brief (18 October). Champions League results from our table (ESPN, FOX Sports, FotMob and Sky). Neville’s quotes from Sky Sports, matched by Goal and Yahoo (19 October). League positions from our table (Premier League data). Hackett’s quotes via GiveMeSport and Brit Brief. Gallagher’s quote from Sky Sports’ Ref Watch via the Yorkshire Evening Post. Farke’s quote via the Dewsbury Reporter. Bournemouth fixture from the club’s fixture list. Accurate as of 19 October 2026.