“Have you ever acquired your luggage packed already?”
At any time when they met, Lionel Messi would joke with Lautaro Martinez, asking if his Argentina team-mate can be becoming a member of him at Barcelona.
It was early 2020, and Barca have been looking out for a alternative for Luis Suarez, with Martinez having turn into their high goal for the next season.
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Messi was an integral a part of the entire operation to lure the Inter Milan ahead to the Camp Nou.
In some unspecified time in the future, it seemed just like the deal was just about executed – however then got here the Covid-19 pandemic and abruptly it fell by.
Martinez didn’t transfer from San Siro and, 5 years on, has made Inter his crew – hitting not less than 20 objectives in every of the previous 4 seasons and breaking one report after one other.
He’s now the Nerazzurri’s all-time main scorer within the Champions League with 18 objectives, changing into the primary participant to attain in 5 consecutive matches for the crew within the match and is at the moment just one aim away from equalling Hernan Crespo (9 objectives in 2002-03) because the membership’s top-scorer in a single version of the competitors.
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That every one has been sufficient to cement Lautaro’s place amongst Inter’s legends, however the 27-year-old is aiming for extra as he heads to the Camp Nou on Wednesday to face Barcelona within the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals.
Not solely does he need to win the one main trophy that he nonetheless lacks, but in addition show that he deserves extra recognition than he has acquired up to now in his profession.
“Typically, I do really feel underrated, sure,” he admitted to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera after ending in seventh place within the 2024 Ballon d’Or award.
He isn’t alone in pondering that.
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Those that have identified Martinez since his first steps in Argentine soccer with Liniers and Racing share the identical ideas.
“If Lautaro did the identical factor for Manchester United or Tottenham, he can be talked about extra, in any case, it is the Premier League,” former Racing scout Diego Huerta advised BBC Sport.
“So I do not suppose it is due to Lautaro – it is as a result of he performs for Inter.
“They already reached the Champions League closing [against Manchester City] in 2023, with him as one among their standout gamers, and but he does not get the identical highlight that others do. What he did, for instance, eventually yr’s Copa América [being top-scorer] was unbelievable.”
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What’s lacking then? His strike companion, Marcus Thuram, has prompt that Martinez ought to “smile a bit extra”. If that is the difficulty, main Inter to the title would definitely assist with that.
Lautaro Martinez has gained the Copa America twice and the World Cup as soon as with Argentina [Getty Images]
‘If you wish to be completely different on the pitch, it’s a must to be completely different off it’
Martinez comes from the southern city of Bahia Blanca, a spot significantly identified for its love for basketball.
Like his youthful brother Jano, the Argentina worldwide himself may have had a profession in that sport, however determined as an alternative to observe his father Mario and his older brother Alan and persist with soccer.
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Ever since making that alternative, he has adopted the mantra that claims if you wish to be completely different on the pitch, it’s a must to be completely different off it.
He has all the time taken it very critically.
A centre-back turned ahead, he was solely 15 when he made his senior debut with Liniers, scoring in his very first recreation. However that was not essentially the most spectacular factor about it. What stunned his team-mates was the extent of self-discipline he already introduced at that age.
“In Bahia, there was a TV channel that broadcast our matches, so I used to go there to ask for the videotapes. I had to purchase them as a result of they weren’t going to present them to me without spending a dime,” he revealed.
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“It was my dream to turn into knowledgeable footballer. Now it is completely different, after all, I get all the pieces edited and despatched to me. Some persons are stunned by the way in which I’m or the way in which I believe. However for me, it feels fully pure.”
It is no surprise that when Racing noticed him some time later, they took him straight away – no trial wanted.
“He is some of the unbelievable professionals I’ve ever seen,” mentioned Huerta, now a technical secretary at Cerro Porteno in Paraguay.
“He was the entire package deal – a really sturdy mentality, very severe, very dedicated to work, from the so-called ‘invisible trainings’ to caring for himself – he does not smoke, does not drink alcohol, does not drink Coca-Cola.
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“Our psychologist Cecilia Contarino used to run exams to measure gamers’ focus. The scores ranged from nought to 100. She’d inform me that 60 to 70 was already acceptable for a high-performance athlete. Some gamers acquired 30 or 40 although. And this child? He broke the report. He scored 98.”
‘Are there actually that many forwards on the planet higher than him?’
Having arrived from Liniers earlier that yr, Martinez watched the 2014 World Cup from Casa Tita Mattiussi, Racing’s well-known membership dormitory.
Within the second version of a e-book sequence known as Pelota de Papel – that includes tales written by gamers and coaches equivalent to Pablo Aimar, Juan Pablo Sorin, Javier Saviola and Jorge Sampaoli – he mirrored on that have.
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Martinez could not know on the time, however 4 years from then he would make his worldwide debut. He has gained a World Cup and two Copa America titles together with his nation.
“In my room at Racing’s dormitory – one among my favorite locations on the planet – I used to take a seat and take into consideration what it could be prefer to make it to the primary crew. However I had this concept caught in my head that I might by no means be like these idols I admired. Diego Milito, Roger Martinez, Gustavo Bou, and ‘Licha’ Lopez – these are actual gamers,” he wrote.
“Each time I considered enjoying, the very first thing that got here to thoughts was that I might by no means earn a spot on the crew, and that I might have to return to my hometown earlier than lengthy. I all the time dreamed of being like them.
“In the present day, in a type of similar rooms in that lovely dormitory, there’s most likely a child who thinks he does not belong within the crew. That is precisely the second when it’s a must to work even tougher, practice extra, sleep properly, eat higher, and above all maintain dreaming. As a result of this is not only a story: your dream can come true.”
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Martinez’s did.
He broke into Racing’s first crew changing his idol Milito in 2015, left the membership as the most costly switch ever at $31m (£23m) in 2018 and has since turn into the primary foreigner to attain 150 objectives for Inter.
He should really feel underrated, however that may be about to vary.
“Are there actually that many forwards on the planet higher than Lautaro – somebody who is usually a goalscorer and a pacesetter, decisive on the pitch and a real crew participant off it?” requested La Gazzetta dello Sport after Inter knocked Bayern Munich out of the Champions League.
The reply will probably be discovered quickly.
