Lautaro Martínez’s revenge: from the World Cup to the Champions League final with a great goal for Inter, who eliminated Milan

Life, or more precisely football, will give some kind of revenge Lautaro Martinez: after not being able to be a Hundred percent in the Qatar 2022 World Cup final against France (entered the second half), will now have the opportunity and privilege to play in a final of Champions League, Neither more nor less. Yes, in the race Bull another milestone will appear: next June 10 in Türkiye, because Inter defeated 1-0 a Milan (3-0 on aggregate) with one of his goals.

Lautaro played in the World Cup and enjoyed himself like everyone else, mind you. But for the 25-year-old from Bahia there was still a thorn in his side because he physically didn’t arrive at the optimal appointment. That’s why he quickly lost the position with Giuliano Alvarezexactly who he could face in the final in Istanbul. “I didn’t go to the World Cup I wanted. I didn’t arrive as expected, I played with an ankle injected with painkillers. Then a teammate came in who did better than me and I’m still very happy. I gave him my all, even From the outside, it’s nice to have an attacking partner who does things so well.”the ex Racing was able to confess.

Lautaro recovered and that ankle no longer bothered him. The performance of the Inter captain is up. The numbers don’t lie: in the last half of 2022 he scored 8 goals in 24 games, while so far in 2023 he has amassed 17 whoops in 31 duels. This Tuesday was special, obviously, because of the setting: the semi-final of the Champions League and against the classic rival. He Bull received from his friend Romelu Lukaku Inside the area he checks and concludes with a left foot on the near post by Maignan, who can’t do anything. And Lautaro celebrated: he got on one of the electronic billboards, he found himself face to face with the fans and made the gesture of Mouse Gigio so that the cry can be heard very loudly.

The Champions League final will be there ninth in Martinez’s career. On 24 May he will play his eighth match: against Fiorentina for the Italian Cup. How did you behave in the rest? Not bad: he won 6 and only lost 1.

Three of the cups he lifted were dressed in biancoceleste and white: Copa América 2021, Conmebol-Uefa Champions Cup 2022 (Finalissima 2022) and Qatar World Cup 2022. The others were with Inter: Supercoppa Italiana 2021, Italian Super Cup 2022 and Italian Cup 2022. How many goals did he score? Even three: one with Argentina in the 3-0 win against Italy at Wembley, another in the 2-1 win against Juventus in the Italian Cup and the rest in the 3-0 win against Milan for the Super Cup played in January this year. year in Saudi Arabia. . “The only time I remember not sleeping was before the final against Brazil at the Maracana. That was one of the few times I had trouble sleeping. The rest of the time I was very calm.“, he said Bull.

The duel returns in Derby della Madonna it was dense, as Italy’s matches tend to be. Inter plays ahead and Milan has no more ideas. It began with a certain fury, revitalized above all by the presence of the Portuguese Raffaele Leone, who missed the first leg through injury. But that fervor didn’t last long, and the venue quickly managed to put the batch in the freezer. In this favorable period for visitors, Andre Onana He stifled the celebration for Brahim Díaz, who finished weakly with a right footed shot from the penalty spot. The other net was a cross from Leao after a good personal action. Not much more.

Inter, it is insisted, played with the advantage of 2 header goals. He was more cautious than the first boy and attacked with the necessary players so as not to be defenseless. Edin Dzeko came close to converting with a header saved by goalkeeper Mike Maignan. Lautaro? He enters the game shortly and manages to finish with his left foot from the croissant, but the ball ends up over the crossbar.

Nothing happened in the second half until Lukaku and Lautaro connected and the Argentine sealed the series with that historic left foot strike. An important fact: after obtaining the World Cup, Martínez is the champion with the most goalswith 17, leaving behind Lionel Messi, with 12, and Paulo Dybala, with 9.

Inter wins with a goal from Lautaro and leaves Milan away, a classic of the city. Now, finally, the Bull He’ll be waiting with his captain’s ribbon and 10 on his back for Manchester City or Real Madrid. A new decisive match is looming for Lautaro, a sort of well-deserved revenge of fate.