Lautaro Martinez struggled to make a decisive impact in the penalty area for Inter Milan against Roma yesterday evening.
This is the view in today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews. The newspaper do however note that the Nerazzurri captain helped to open up space for his teammates.
For the second Serie A match in a row, Inter captain Martinez failed to get on the scoresheet.
That wasn’t exactly a problem for the Nerazzurri, They put four past Roma keeper Rui Patricio to take three points.
But by the standards of Martinez this season, two goals without finding the back of the net is virtually a goal drought.
The reason why wasn’t too hard to see.
Martinez struggled to really get the better of Giallorossi defenders Gianluca Mancini and Dean Huijsen.
The rain-sodden pitch did not help, as it was tough for the Inter captain to manoeuvre the ball.
And Martinez was never really able to carve out space for himself. Particularly in the first half.
Lautaro Martinez Struggles To Make Decisive Impact For Inter Vs Roma
When Martinez did get on the ball, he was generally unable to turn and make anything dangerous happen.
This meant that it was a quiet evening from the 26-year-old. Just one shot from him meant that it was little surprise that he was unable to add to his tally of nineteen goals so far this season in Serie A.
But that did not mean that Martinez was not able to have a positive effect on the match.
On the contrary, and perhaps sensing that it was never going to be his night in front of goal, Martinez often dropped deeper.
This meant that the Roma defenders would at times get dragged out of position.
Moreover, Martinez gave Inter a numbers advantage in midfield at times as they circulated the ball around.
In the end, Inter coach Simone Inzaghi decided to take his captain off midway through the second half. Former West Ham United and Bologna veteran Marko Arnautovic replaced him.
