Lautaro poker for history: “After the knockout against Sassuolo we couldn’t make mistakes. Go ahead

He is the first player to score four goals as a substitute in a Serie A match and with nine goals he is the league’s top scorer

Andrea Ramazzotti

– MILAN

Lautaro Martinez is in history: he is the first player to score four goals as a substitute in Serie A. Arechi’s poker has consecrated him in first place in the top scorer rankings with 9 goals in 7 days. Also considering the Champions League, he has 10 goals and has scored exactly half of Inter’s goals so far (20). Impressive numbers that testify to the greatness of the Argentine, increasingly captain, leader and driving force of the team. With Salernitana, then, he has an unfinished business: he has already scored 9 goals against them and together with Cagliari, he is his favorite victim. And to think that he started from the bench: when he realized that his team was unable to break the deadlock, Inzaghi threw him into the fray in place of Sanchez and the number 10 responded with a poker in 27 minutes, from 62′ to 89′. He now has 112 goals in 246 matches with the Nerazzurri shirt: Vieri (123) and Icardi (124), in ninth and eighth place respectively in the ranking of Inter’s all-time goalscorers, are ever closer.

PURE JOY

At the end of the match Lautaro returned home with the ball. It was handed to him immediately after the final whistle by his teammate Pavard who then pushed it under the wing of the Nerazzurri fans at the Arechi for a well-deserved ovation. “I will give this ball to my son Theo who was born recently” said the Argentine. For him it was a night to remember: “On Wednesday against Sassuolo – he continued – we lost a match that we didn’t deserve because we had done an excellent job, but unfortunately we weren’t concrete in front of goal. Today we had to win and in the second half we entered with the wickedness that we must always have. The title of top scorer? It’s true, I scored four goals and I’m first in the standings, but that doesn’t matter. The important thing was to win. We made a leap in quality in competitive wickedness and we proved it in the second half. We had started the championship well, then with the national teams we trained less and this was evident. Now we have recovered and it showed on the pitch: we are a great team and we must continue like this. The starting bench? We must always be ready when the coach calls us. I try to grow on and off the pitch: I do it as a family with my children who are always present and I also do it on the pitch with my teammates.”

NOW THE CHAMPIONS

Now head to the Champions League and Tuesday’s match at San Siro against Benfica who will want to take revenge after the elimination suffered by the Nerazzurri last year in the quarter-finals: “Let’s prepare well for the Champions League. We will do it with high morale because this was not a pitch easy. We needed to put in an important performance to respond to the criticism that arose after Sassuolo. We did well. Thuram? He’s strong, he puts in a lot of effort and works for the team. He’s learning Italian football quickly and is fitting in well in our group because he’s a great guy.”



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