Simone Inzaghi admits to being worried about the growing Inter injury crisis after a 1-0 win away to Roma and thinks Lautaro Martinez ‘will be in the top five for the Ballon d’Or.’
The Nerazzurri already made the trip without Piotr Zielinski and Kristjan Asllani, but the situation got even worse when they lost both Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi to muscular problems in the opening half-hour.
Nonetheless, they rallied and managed to snatch all three points thanks to a Lautaro Martinez finish on the counter-attack from a Roma corner.
“Clearly, we had a few problems in midfield, as Asllani and Zielinski were already out,” explained Inzaghi on DAZN.
“Calhanoglu wasn’t in great shape over the last two days, so with the other two available I would’ve rested him this evening. He is generous and tried to put in the effort, but he felt the adductor pain and stopped before it got worse.”
It was noted that Inter have kept more clean sheets against the big opponents than the smaller ones.
“That is true, it suggest there is an issue of concentration. Roma are a strong team with quality, so the lads did really well. The first half was balanced, in the second we had two or three opportunities to double our lead and should’ve killed off the game.
“The Olimpico is a tough place to play, so I am very pleased with the performance. Our results at home have been good, but away we have dropped points with draws against Monza and Genoa, so we knew it was important to end that. It was not an easy thing to win here.
“Roma are a solid side with a lot of good players coming off the bench, so the fact we had to use up two slots was a real problem.”
Inzaghi prediction for Lautaro Martinez
Lautaro Martinez found the net for the 133rd time in the Inter jersey, equalling the all-time club record for a foreign player set by Istvan Nyers in the 1950s.
Inzaghi was asked what more the Copa America winner needs to do in order to win the Ballon d’Or?
“He just has to keep doing what he has done with Inter and Argentina. I think he is one of the five best players in the world. He deserves all of this success, I think he’s going to be in the top five for the Ballon d’Or,” replied the coach.
The winner of the trophy for Player of the Year will be announced in Paris on Monday evening.
This was the fourth consecutive Inter victory in all competition and allows them to keep in touch with Serie A leaders Napoli.
Inter President Beppe Marotta complained before kick-off that the fixture list was too packed and that was evident because Inzaghi temporarily forgot what his next match was.
It will be on Wednesday against Young Boys in Switzerland for the Champions League.
