His first season with the Inter captain’s armband marked the entry of Lautaro Martinez among the great strikers in the history of the Nerazzurri club and Italian football. Toro has scored 128 goals for the Nerazzurri and has surpassed both Vieri and Icardi, but above all he has broken the barrier of 100 goals in Serie A and is one step away from winning the title of top scorer in the championship for the first time. He has already beaten his seasonal record in Serie A (23 goals; there were 21 in 2021-22 and 2022-23) and now he is also aiming for his overall record, the 28 goals last year (he is at 26): he would have already surpassed long ago if he hadn’t “stuck” on February 28th, the day of his last goal. A fast that he would have gladly done without, but which did not prevent him from being one of the souls of the party yesterday. Both on the San Siro lawn and on the bus that paraded through the streets of the city. Wearing the Argentine flag and the Nerazzurri scarf, he took part in the chants launched by Barella and Dimarco and was applauded by the crowd. After all, Lautaro is the recognized leader of the team, the one who led it with 8 goals in the streak of 10 successes that allowed the lead on Juve and Milan.
emotions
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Compared to 2018, when he arrived very young from Racing, Toro is a different player. Then, to “protect” him from possible attacks by top clubs, the club had put a 111 million clause on him, while now, in light of what he has demonstrated and won, that could be his real assessment of him. At twenty-six he has already celebrated two championships, two Italian Cups and three Italian Super Cups plus trophies with Argentina, namely a World Cup, an America’s Cup and a Grand Final. Not a bad business card. And on the penultimate day he will be the one to lift the cup that goes to the Italian champions, exactly as happened in January in Riyadh with the Super Cup, snatched from Napoli in the final thanks to his flash. In 2023-24 Lautaro scored many goals and almost all of them were “heavy”. He was missing a bit in the Champions League, but in Serie A he was a factor. Indeed, a driving force. He didn’t feel the “betrayal” of Lukaku with whom he had an excellent feeling on and off the pitch. Indeed, tactically he perhaps felt even better with Thuram.
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future
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This summer Lautaro will play the Copa America with the Seleccion and Inter’s idea is to get him to that event with the renewal of the signed contract. There will be a new match soon and the fans hope it will be the one with the white smoke. Given the bond that the boy from Bahia Blanca has with the Nerazzurri shirt, they can’t imagine an Inter without him. Not even Inzaghi who pampers him even when he doesn’t score because he knows how important he is for the group. Yesterday, for example, he left the penalty for the 2-0 to the specialist Calhanoglu. He really wanted to break free, but he resisted the temptation to kick it for the good of the team. Another demonstration of maturity. A captain’s decision.
