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Extended Clip - Lautaro Martinez: Why Can’t Inter Milan Captain Perform On Biggest Stage? (Ep. 404)
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After a poor performance against Atletico Madrid when Inter Milan were knocked out of the Champions League, Nima Tavallaey and Carlo Garganese discuss and analyze why Lautaro Martinez seems to struggle in the biggest games at the highest levels of international football.
This is a clip from the weekly Thursday episode of the Italian Football Podcast.
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Transcript
Lautaro Martinez's Form and Contract Demands
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. That brings me on nicely you said about Lautaro's contract because you know he's asking for quite a lot of money and the question will be how much is he worth because Lautaro Martinez who's having an absolutely incredible Serie A season and has been for years now.
Is Lautaro World-Class? A Comparison with Harry Kane
00:00:24
Speaker
undoubtedly one of the best players in Syria. He fails at the elite level again. We've asked this question a few times. We've had some questions from some of our patrons in the Q&A episode. Is Lautaro Martinez a world-class player?
Praise for Lautaro: Improvement and Zlatan Comparison
00:00:45
Speaker
I think he's a world-class player, yes, but I don't think he's peaked. It's possible to be a world-class player. I think Harry Kane's been a world-class striker for many years. He's won absolutely nothing. He's always also had a problem with delivering when it matters the most. That doesn't make him less of a world-class player. It means that he has still margins to improve on. And I think that's true of Lautaro Martinez. The thing that impresses me the most about Lautaro Martinez, and in this aspect and in this aspect only, does he remind me of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
00:01:15
Speaker
Zlatan constantly improved on one minimum one or two aspects of his game throughout his entire career. Lautaro is doing the same thing. Every season he improves on the previous season and shows growth. He is now a killer in the box. They're still in the domestically, domestically in Serie A, he absolutely is.
Champions League Struggles and Inter's European Aspirations
00:01:40
Speaker
But there's still a dip in quality when he goes into the Champions League. He still, it doesn't feel as natural when he's in the Champions League as he is when he's in the Serie A. And that
00:01:58
Speaker
is just growth. And I think to a certain extent you can say the same thing about Taram, you can say the same thing about Barilla, Bastoni and so on and so forth. So I think that it's, look, if it was just him, I'd be, you know, again, I look at them, they're all in sync with one another. I just, I look at inta as a whole and I see the same things, the same
00:02:21
Speaker
Deficiencies, quote unquote, throughout. But these are deficiencies that can be addressed. And these are deficiencies that you just need time. Because again, I look at football like organic, like you would look when you harvest, when you grow things, farm things. Inter are ripe in the Serie A. They're not ripe in Europe. I think they will be one or two years away. Whether or not that's good enough to actually win the tournament is completely separate discussion.
Critique of Lautaro on International Stages
00:02:50
Speaker
but for Inter to win the Serie A and go to the latter stages of the Champions League semi-final thereabouts, I think we're one, two seasons away from them being able to do that in all of those tournaments. Yeah, I mean, listen, with Lautaro, I think, look, he did a couple of good things in this game. He was involved in the goal, in the move for the goal, and he put a great pass to Turan to put him through with, what, 10, 15 minutes to go.
00:03:18
Speaker
Which was a you know, if Taran puts that away then we're probably gonna you know into we're gonna go through we're probably gonna praise Lautaro for forgetting the the the tie winning assist, you know, so those sometimes those are the fine margins But having said all that despite those those couple of things I've mentioned there It's not enough and that is the story of of Lautaro Martinez on the elite stage when I say the elite stage I'm saying Champions League knockouts and
00:03:48
Speaker
A major international tournament.
World Cup Performance and Mental Challenges
00:03:50
Speaker
So a world cup or or euros copper america. Okay, maybe i'm being snobby and saying I don't think the copper america is at the same level as as the euros But you know i'm talking about you know, the elite elite level. I would say champion league knockouts world cup Or european championship, uh, and they'll know I know obviously not very company european champions, but that's what i'm talking about No, I know you mean that's what i'm talking about as elite level and he hasn't he hasn't done it in those elite competitions that he's no he's quite qualified for and
00:04:18
Speaker
He was abysmal at the World Cup, absolutely abysmal at the World Cup. I don't think he was abysmal. I think that's been exaggerated. I think what happened at the World Cup has been really blown out of proportion. I think what happened was that he came into that tournament in the wrong way, the game against Saudi with the offsides and disallowed goals, and then he got inside his head and he wasn't able to recover from that except on penalty shootouts, where he was able to convert the irony, of course.
00:04:48
Speaker
But I think it's kind of symptomatic of him. Well, he lost his place, didn't he? He did. He didn't score. He lost his place. Again, how do you want to look at it? It's definitely not enough for a player. If we're calling somebody world-class, that's not enough for a world-class player.
Penalty Pressure and Mental Toughness
00:05:04
Speaker
You know, the same with the Champions League, like last season, I know he scored against Milan, but I guess it's, you know, it's against Italian opposition. So it's kind of a different dynamic there. I just feel like, you know, when it comes to the big kind of continental international stage, he's not the same player. It's probably a mentally, it's a mental issue there, definitely.
00:05:25
Speaker
He tenses up. That's the thing. You can read on his face how he's feeling and he's going to... You can see that with the penalty. I mean, look at him. The way that he could just... You don't have to be a body language expert. Anybody could see he was going to miss that penalty. It was obvious from a mile away. It's the way he walked up to it. He just looked like he had the weight of the world on the shoulders and he wasn't happy with the situation.
Serie A Reliability vs. International Struggles
00:05:45
Speaker
Just contrast that to how the Athletic or Madrid players looked. I mean, they were just...
00:05:52
Speaker
They were so happy. This was their backyard. We've always done this. There were no insecurities. No, absolutely. He looked nervous and that's the issue with him. In Serie A now, he's a guarantee. He's a phenomenon in Serie A.
00:06:12
Speaker
on the elite kind of continental international stage, he can't be relied upon. In fact, you're almost thinking he's going to not bottle it. Maybe that's the wrong word, but you feel like he's not going to he's not going to do it for us. You see, I think that I agree with you. That's where we are now. But I do believe I look 26. He's going to be 27 this summer. And I look at him and I see again, I see improvement. I see a trajectory which I like. I see a career trajectory that I really like.
00:06:40
Speaker
So, I think it's just a matter of time, really. Yeah, I mean, we hope so. He finishes the season with one Champions League goal, which is... That's not good enough. I mean, it's not good enough, but you compare that to his... No, no, no. No, no, no. It's absolutely not good enough. And Inter are going to need him. And I think after this contract stuff is sorted out, then it's time for Caro Lauti to start delivering the goods.