After their FA Cup final victory this past Saturday, Manchester City are just one win away from the treble as they prepare for the Champions League final against Inter Milan.
City are overwhelming favourites to win; regular viewers of Champions League football would be hard-pressed to remember a final in which the predictions have been so heavily in favour of one side.
But Inter Milan will be determined to make sure the clash is harder work for City than the FA Cup final against Manchester United and the Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid were for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Inter won both legs of their semi-final against their fierce, San Siro-sharing rivals AC Milan in games which were dubbed the biggest for both sides in decades. Inter scored at crucial moments, with two early goals in the first leg and a second-half clincher in the second.
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An imperious and bright presence in these games was Inter’s number 10 and captain on the night, Lautaro Martinez. The Argentine was fantastic in the tie. He glided around the pitch in the first leg, using his pace to trouble AC Milan’s backline with both direct runs and movement in the channels.
He then scored the crucial goal for Inter in the 74th minute of the second-leg which took the game beyond their rivals as he squeezed in a shot from a narrow angle to make it 3-0 on aggregate. In celebration, he stood atop the railings separating the Inter fans from the pitch as the adoring masses branded posters and flags with his face emboldened on.
Martinez has a right to drink in the celebrations. He netted 21 times in the Serie A this season, including 9 in his last 10 in all competitions. His leadership qualities were also noticed as he stepped up to captain Inter in the absence of regular skipper Samir Handanović.
This excellent run of form has sparked interest in Martinez from the Premier League, with rumours spreading of a potential move to Chelsea this summer.
But for now, the Argentine will be entirely focused on Saturday and it will be interesting to see how he is utilised by Inter’s manager Simone Inzaghi in the final.
City's shape allows for strikers who are willing to run the channels to potentially have some success on the counter-attack. Whilst this is often negated by the fact that it is difficult to get in behind thanks to the speed of Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji, Martinez's deceptively good hold-up play could pose some problems if Inter are able to get him on the ball consistently.
He is also adept at making unselfish runs in the final third which bring others into play. Playing as a second striker, he often opens up space for Edin Dzeko or Romelu Lukaku who play as a traditional no. 9, or those making late arrivals into the box from midfield like Nicolo Barella or Hakan Çalhanoğlu.
It is hard to ignore the personal element for Inter’s captain too. He was a regular fixture in Argentina’s side going into the World Cup but lost his place after being left out in the final group stage game against Poland.
Although he came off the bench in every game, Martinez was not in another starting lineup as Lionel Messi guided Argentina to victory in Qatar. More significantly still, Martinez was dropped for City’s Julian Alvarez who will presumably be waiting on the bench against Inter on Saturday.
Martinez was not the only Inter player who had a difficult World Cup. Denzel Dumfries lost in agonising fashion with the Netherlands against eventual winners Argentina. Romelu Lukaku had a nightmarish second half against Croatia, missing chance after chance as Belgium crashed out of the group stages. Inter’s Italian players sat brooding at home watching the action in Qatar from afar - Italy’s failure to qualify a national embarrassment.
Inter winning this year’s Champions League is important not just for them, but for Italy and the Serie A. The competition which has been resurgent in recent years has a claim to being the most competitive and thereby interesting European league. If Inter are able to deprive Guardiola of Europe’s greatest footballing prize yet again, Lautaro Martinez will probably play a big part in it.
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