Inter, Lautaro injured, available for the Scudetto match against Parma

He wanted to attend the party without being late. Fate has pleased him: Lautaro Martinez will return in time for the championship celebration, which will almost certainly be celebrated on Sunday at San Siro on the sidelines of the match against Parma. Inter could be sure of their 21st scudetto even before taking to the pitch. But regardless of the exogenous variables, the occasion for a worthy celebration coincides with a gala at San Siro for the first time since 1989: at the time the so-called record-breaking Inter, coached by the highly decorated Giovanni Trapattoni, took the liberty of winning the scudetto in the direct clash against Napoli (2-1), deserving the tricolor parade with four matchdays to spare.

the push

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The top scorer of that team was Aldo Serena, author of 22 goals when the Serie A format still allowed 18 clubs to register. This time, however, the best scorer is Lautaro, who reached 16 despite missing 8 games due to injury in the last two and a half months. He is at the top of the scorers’ table practically without rivals because the closest ones, that is his teammate Thuram and the Douvikas-Nico Paz duo of Como, chase the fugitive with 12 goals. Compared to last year, Lautaro scored 4 more goals despite having played 5 fewer games. And this element, in itself, contains the symptoms of a decisive importance in the fate of Inter. Luckily for Chivu, who unlike Trap is in his first full experience as a professional coach, in the moment of panic generated by the captain’s second calf injury, Thuram woke up, capable of providing him with a contribution of 5 goals and 2 assists in the last 4 days.

timetable

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But now it’s up to Lautaro, who has set an ambitious goal in his head: to become Inter’s second center forward after Diego Milito, also Argentinian, to complete the Scudetto-Coppa Italia pairing, which only Mourinho’s treble giants managed. The third championship, with the third different coach, is now a formality to be completed over the weekend, with the lightness of someone who only has to sign the last signature at the notary before receiving the keys to paradise. For the second trophy of the season, however, Inter will have to work harder, beating Lazio in the final which by regulation is played… away, that is, at the Olimpico in Rome. Lautaro expects to get to the top on May 13th, therefore in 15 days, warming up his engines in the next two championship matches: Chivu will give him a stint against Parma – we’ll see if from the start or in the second half – then further training minutes on May 9th, again at the Olimpico and again against Lazio. You can’t take risks but you can’t give up on a champion who is clinically healed either.

graduality

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Lautaro knows this and is happy to wear his overalls to end the season on a high note, or even in triumph. Tomorrow, when training resumes at Pinetina, he should work regularly together with his teammates, intensifying the loads day after day. In other times, if his presence had been fundamental for an immediate result, he would also have been available in Turin. Instead he remained on the bench to cheer along with the 8,000 who had settled in the stands to accompany another stage of the championship tour: the chant “The league leaders are leaving” eventually transformed into the more classic “We will win the tricolor” with all the players applauding under the away section.

the wait

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According to plan, Lautaro will end his competitive season coinciding with the Italian Cup final. In the next two days of the championship, against Verona and Bologna who may not have any ranking objective, Chivu should grant him and a good part of the national teams involved in the World Cup some strategic rest. An award of recognition for the Champions.