From heaven in 2023 to hell in 2024: Lautaro Martinez's toughest year

Lautaro Martinez has shown leadership, loyalty and hunger to win, thus earning him the captain's armband alongside Inter Milan's full trust. The player is one the club does not wish to lose, offering him a deal to extend his contract until 2029 in August, which he agreed to without second thoughts. 

Despite the contract boost, the start of the 2024/2025 season has been far from brilliant from Lautaro, who is in the midst of his worst start to a season from the seven he has experienced as an Inter player. He has failed to score in his last five appearances for the club, four of them which he started.

In the Champions League crunch against Man City he was left as a sub, while in the 'Derby della Madonnina' he could not avoid defeat against AC Milan (1-2), who clinched the victory with a goal in the dying minutes - though he did have a couple of chances, assisting teammate Dimarco who scored the temporary equaliser. 

Lautaro Martinerz's difficult start has come at the back of a very taxing summer for the player. With Argentina, he participated in, and won, the Copa America with a solid campaign from an individual perspective, as he collected five goals throughout the tournament - the last one being the winning-goal in the final against Colombia. That said, he was granted limited time to rest up, as a month after being crowned champion with Argentina, he was already kicking off the Serie A season with Inter, against Genoa. 

His 8 goals in the last 12 matches for Argentina are notably different from his numbers with Inter, as he counts 12 goals in the last 26 games for the 'Nerazzurri'. That said, the Inter captain is not the only one, as countless of players have suffered from fatigue due to international competitions in the summer. His goalscoring decline from March did not stop him from winning the 'Capocannoniere' - with a comfortable 8-goal margin from Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic -  thanks to his sharp start to last season with 9 goals in the first 11 matches. From the highs of 2023, Martinez has seen a quick downfall in 2024.

Following the derby loss, 'el Toro' could not hide his disappointment and, as captain, he was first to recognise the need to change things up. "I take responsibility as captain," Martinez said. “We have to raise the level, I’m not doing the job I did last year. We didn’t play the match we’d prepared. We didn’t start off well,” he continued. “In the second half we did a bit better. But we just have to keep our heads down and work, work, work.”

After five gameweeks, Inter Milan are fifth in Serie A with 8 points. One point behind Juventus and Empoli, and three behind Torino, who surprisingly lead the table. After one win (Atalanta), three draws (Genoa, Monza, Man City), and one loss (Milan), Lautaro Martinez will look to lead his team back to winning ways and end his goal drought in their next match against Udinese on the 28th of September. 

 

September 23, 2024