Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi feels that his captain Lautaro Martinez “will be a bomber again” despite his poor start to the season.
The Nerazzurri coach spoke to Amazon Prime, via FCInterNews, ahead of this evening’s Champions League opener against Manchester City.
In recent days, there have been big questions about the form of Inter captain Lautaro Martinez.
The Argentine started for Inter in their Serie A clash with Monza over the weekend.
However, Martinez was unable to find the back of the net in that match, as Inter slumped to a 1-1 draw.
That was the third match this season in which Martinez was unable to score. He had been absent from the team’s Serie A win over Lecce last month through injury.
Fitness has certainly played a role in Martinez’s early season slump.
The 27-year-old did not have much of a preseason due to his late return after the Copa America.
And there has been an evident lack of freshness and intensity to the Inter captain’s game.
Whether there are other factors or not, Martinez has not looked like the player who has been Inter’s top scorer in each of the last three seasons – and the top scorer for all of Serie A last time around.
Whatever the reason, Martinez’s form is starting to become a worry for Inter.
Inzaghi: “Lautaro Will Be A Bomber Again”
There are even reports that Inzaghi could leave Martinez out of the starting eleven for this evening’s Champions League clash with Manchester City, with the captain’s fitness in doubt.
But in the longer term, the Inter coach is not worrying too much.
“He’ll get back to scoring the way he always has,” Inzaghi predicted of Martinez.
The Inter coach noted that “He didn’t have time to prepare.”
“He returned to preseason late. And then he was out for a bit due to an injury and wasn’t able to play in the second match.”
“Then, he was with Argentina for two matches,” Inzaghi noted.
“With time he’ll get back to being our bomber again,” the Inter coach was confident.
As far as whether Martinez will start this evening, Inzaghi said that “We’ll see.”
“There are a lot of players who have to play. We have to balance our squad and energy.”
“We played just 48 hours ago,” Inzaghi noted. “And then we have another match on Sunday.”
Inter face city rivals AC Milan in the derby in another huge match in just a few days’ time.
Meanwhile, Inzaghi gave his thoughts on this evening’s match against City.
“Apart from Haaland, who we all know from his numbers and who we’ve studied, City is a group of great players who play good football under a top coach,” the Inter coach commented.
“Inter are up to the task, though,” he continued.
“In our last meeting, we should have been more clinical with the chances we created,” Inzaghi said. Inter met Man City in the 2023 Champions League final, losing 0-1.