Inter, Lautaro: goal in the derby and double dream after the World Cup

Now only one is missing. Only one to reach 100 goals with the Inter shirt. Lautaro Martinez put his indelible signature on the semi-final second leg against Milan, definitely knocked out by his 1-0 draw. For the Bull another final is coming, or rather… a couple more, after that of the World Cup on 18 December in Doha and that of the Supercoppa Italiana on 18 January in Riyadh. The first will be played in a week against Fiorentina and the Coppa Italia will be up for grabs, then on 10 June in Istanbul he will compete against Manchester City and Real Madrid for the Champions League.

The Argentine will arrive at the appointment with history scheduled in the Turkish capital probably at the best moment of his career, with a crazy conviction in his means and a rediscovered vein. Between March and April he went 8 games without beating the opposing goalkeeper, but now he’s relentless again. On Saturday he overtook Consigli, and signed the sixth center in the last 5 appearances in the league (4 times he started from the bench…), but the blow with which he pierced Maignan in the second leg of the Euro-derby has a decidedly greater specific weight : it is the call of a champion who until a few weeks ago did not find the goal consistently in the Champions League and who instead in the last three knockout matches has found the way to score against both Benfica and Milan.

What a joy

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Martinez took home the UEFA man of the match title, equaled his 25 goals in 2021-22 (personal best) and celebrated with the other Nerazzurri on the pitch. This is a night he won’t forget for a long time and in fact he didn’t hide it even in front of the microphone: “I think there’s a lot of history in this match – he sighed – and I felt it would end like this: I told the boys in the locker room. Playing in the Champions League final is a dream and it’s proof that Inter is there. I’m very happy. This evening we will carry it all our lives, we players and the fans. There’s a lot of work behind it, but now let’s look ahead. In both matches against Milan we did what we had to. The key was the group: I had a similar experience at the World Cup, where we all arrived united to the important matches and won.” He is the point of contact between Argentina, world champions in Doha and Inter who will now play the Champions League final in Istanbul: if, however, in Qatar he scored the penalty in the “final lottery” to eliminate the Netherlands in the quarter-finals , but ended the event with zero goals, in this Champions League, as well as against Benfica (in the quarterfinals) and Milan (in the semifinals), he put his signature on the night in Barcelona, ​​when he extinguished the dreams of rewarded of Xavi and the Blaugranas. “Every time I go on the pitch I try to give my best and help the group. After winning the World Cup, I knew I had this opportunity to reach the Champions League final and I’m happy I did it. Thanks to my teammates who help me and they grow every day. Finals are not played, but are won? It will be like this… We will have to take the field like tonight, or rather giving everything to get as high as possible. I could win the Champions League after the World Cup six months later It would be a real dream and I don’t even want to think about it… I dedicate this moment to my family and to the baby who is on the way (the second after Nina, ed)”. Of revenge on Milan after the scudetto lost last year, however, he did not want to hear about: “The 2021-22 championship is the past: we started again with certain objectives and today we achieved an important one. We have to go to Istanbul to lift the Cup, against whoever we will play. If we’re in the final, it’s because we deserve it.”

Zanetti and Milito

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Of course the Bull, with the captain’s armband on his arm, was embraced by all his teammates in the locker room and on the pitch, while his compatriot (and vice president) Javier Zanetti in front of journalists… took him off the transfer market: “I’m delighted for Lautaro: every year he grows with us and is a reference for the team. We hold on to him because he is too important.” A message to the big ones who will eventually look for him: with over 100 million already arrived only in prize money from UEFA, snatching Toro and the other top players from Zhang’s club (perhaps) will be more complicated. Lautaro wants to experience more nights like this wearing the Nerazzurri shirt and dreams of retracing the path of both Zanetti, who lifted the Cup in 2010 in Madrid, and Diego Milito, who scored the decisive brace in the final at the Bernabeu in the final at the Bernabeu Bayern Munich. 13 years have passed since then and Martinez wants to rewrite another memorable story for Inter fans. The Bull after Prince: if this is not a fairy tale that deserves a happy ending…