The dedication for his daughter Nina’s birthday: “February 1st changed my life, it’s a special date. Every match must be faced with the same concentration and determination”
Nina saw everything, on that big screen. She raised her arms while mum Agustina, very excited, showed her dad’s shirt: happy birthday, I love you. He will look back at the images of that special dedication for a long time, for the rest of his life. Lautaro Martinez was very keen on this Sunday, much of which he had to spend away from his family. It was too important to push Inter even further up, towards the dormer window with a view of the Scudetto. “But now let me run to Milan – jokes Lautaro – because Nina has turned 5 and has to wait up for me. I want to celebrate with her and give her at least one kiss before she falls asleep. For me, February 1st is always a special date, I couldn’t miss a match. The man of the match award will end up in my daughter’s room, which has changed my life.”
record
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Compared to the irresistible purity of a paternal feeling, even scoring records take second place: in Cremona, Lautaro equaled Alessandro Altobelli in fourth place in the ranking of Inter goal scorers of all times in Serie A: 128 goals. He is missing one overall, including cups, to reach Roberto Boninsegna on 171. In the meantime, he has already beaten himself after a year: in 2025 he closed the championship with 12 goals, now he is already at 13 heading towards the title of top scorer. This time he broke the deadlock in the game thanks to Inter’s eleventh goal coming from a corner: “We train a lot on dead balls, which can often be decisive in shifting the balance when the opponents defend well. We’ve scored many goals like this but we’ve also conceded some. We’re trying to improve in all specialties.”
on the run
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The shot at +8, awaiting Milan’s reply, smells of solidity: among the numbers to underline, with a pinch of luck, there is Sommer’s clean sheet number 15 between championship and cups. Inter have won all their matches against teams ranked from sixth place down, apart from the initial slip against Udinese. Lautaro smiles: “We have a good lead in the standings, an important one, but we still have a long way to go. We must never give up. Look at our second half in Cremona: you can even suffer in Serie A if your performance drops. And you can’t afford that in such a balanced championship.” A message to the competition? “It’s a message for us. We must get it into our heads that every minute of every match must be faced with the same concentration and the same determination.”
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