'Huge pride' - Lisandro Martinez reacts to his Manchester United shirt being presented to the Pope

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez took to social media to express his pride at Pope Francis being presented with his Reds shirt.

Earlier this week, Andy Burnham - the Mayor of Greater Manchester - gave the Pope a signed Martinez jersey. The gift was handed to the 86-year-old during the Mayor's visit to the Vatican as a part of a delegation who were given a private audience with Pope Francis to discuss climate change.

It came as somewhat of a surprise to see the Pope pictured with Martinez's shirt, but the Argentinian centre-back was understandably proud of the exchange. He took to Twitter to speak about his joy, while also thanking Burnham and United for the gesture.

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He wrote: "Thank you to @ManUtd and @AndyBurnhamGM for presenting my shirt to que His Holiness Pope Francis, for whom I have great respect and feel huge pride as an Argentinian".

As per the BBC, Burnham reflected on the "historic moment" of meeting the Pope, saying: "This is the first time that all the faith leaders of Greater Manchester have come together with civic leaders to agree our pledge for a greener Greater Manchester region."

Pope Francis hails from Argentina, the country with whom Martinez won the World Cup back in December. The Reds defender - nicknamed 'The Butcher' - arrived at Old Trafford from Ajax last summer and quickly became a fan favourite. He has made 45 appearances for Erik ten Hag's this term, but will play no further part after picking up an injury.

Martinez recently had surgery to repair a fractured metatarsal he suffered during the Europa League quarter-final first-leg tie against Sevilla. He is now aiming to recover in time for the start of