Why didn’t Lautaro Martínez start for Inter against Manchester City in the Champions League?
The Argentina striker has been in superb form in recent seasons but was only on the bench against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Lautaro Martínez has been one of the most deadly strikers in Europe in recent seasons and pivotal to Inter Milan’s recent successes. Yet the Argentinian was left out of the Italians’ starting lineup to play against Manchester City on matchday 1 of the 2024/25 Champions League by head coach Simone Inzaghi.
Since moving to Milan in the summer of 2018, the 27-year-old has been a prolific scorer, especially in the last three seasons, in which he has scored 80 goals in 150 appearances (66 in 106 Serie A games).
🚨 Pep Guardiola: "Lautaro Martínez can definitely win the Ballon d’Or; I'd rather a Man City player won that accolade, but he is a sensational player.
— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) September 17, 2024
"If you are a captain, a forward, and you play with Argentina, the World Cup champions and Copa América winners, you have to… pic.twitter.com/X2gk01UxtK
In his six years at the club, Martínez has helped Inter to seven trophies, namely two league titles, two Coppa Italia victories and three Italian Super Cups. He also fired the Nerazzurri to the 2023 Champions League final, in which they were beaten by City.
The Argentina international, however, has had a slow start to the new season, failing to score in three Serie A games, none of which he has finished.
Why isn’t Lautaro starting against City in the UCL?
According to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, Inzaghi opted to leave Martínez out of the starting lineup due to fatigue, especially with the Milan derby coming up at San Siro on Sunday.
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He was, however, on the bench for the game in Manchester, and came on in the 65 minute.
The attacker has a busy summer as he took part in the 2024 Copa América with Argentina in the United States. Although Martínez only started twice, he featured in all of his country’s six matches and was the tournament’s top scorer with five goals as the World Cup holders lifted the trophy.
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