Lautaro Martinez commented on Argentina and the Copa America, his relationship with Lionel Messi, winning the league with Inter and nearly joining FC Barcelona.
Martinez recently won his first league title and played a pivotal role up front as he and Lukaku formed a formidable partnership in attack. It’s the Copa America with Argentina up next with two World Cup qualifying matches coming just days before the start of the tournament.
Helping Inter win a league title for the first time in a decade, Lautaro will be looking to him Argentina win their first senior international trophy in over two decades.
Speaking in an interview on Libero of TyC Sports, here’s what the Inter man had to say regarding the Copa America:
“We know what Brazil can do, we have our own thing. We don’t believe ourselves to be candidates but yes, we do do our job and we try to do the best for our country and our team.
“As a group, we are growing, on the pitch too. We are on the right track. Hopefully we can continue with what the coach has drawn for us and move forward achieving things.”
In regards to Lionel Messi:
“Every time we see each other, we talk. Be it on or off (the pitch). We know each other. It’s been a while now that we have been sharing the pitch together with the Argentina national team. Listen, he knows the movements I can make and I know the moves that he can make.”
The 23 year old also spoke about his defensive responsibilities at the Copa America under coach Lionel Scaloni and how that has helped him with Inter:
“It helped me a lot. From there, I got a coach at Inter (Conte) who asked a lot of me defensively, that today I am doing naturally because it made me grow a lot in that sense. I’m very happy.”
And finally, regarding winning the league with Inter:
“I’m happy for what I’m living, for the championship we just won. It had been a while that it was the same team winning (Juventus). Inter stayed 10 or 11 without lifting a trophy and I believe we did a great job in the league. We are worthy champions for what we did all year and the lead we have over the second place team.”
Speaking in a separate interview with ESPN Argentina, Lautaro revealed that he was close to joining FC Barcelona:
“I was truly very close to joining Barcelona and I even talked it over with Messi. However, the Blaugrana had economic problems at that moment, so I decided to stay at Inter. It proved to be the right decision, especially as we then won the Scudetto.
“It’s just incredible to win the title at such an important club.”
[…] was the Argentine’s first goal since April 7 vs. Sassuolo. If you missed it, Lautaro recently spoke about Argentina and the team’s chances at the Copa […]
Lewandowski may well win the ballon dor after missing out on it this year. Bayern have won the Bundesliga and he has 39 goals and 7 assists in in 27 Bundesliga games. Unbelievable stats. It is all down to if Barca win the league but with today’s draw it’s less likely
Our players and penalties, sigh 😔
Yep. Messi Ocampos and Agüero all have problems with them it seems. I think Lautaro scored one today but still he has missed before
Of all players, i trust Dybala by far at 85%. And despite today, Aguero is next as I don’t think he’d try to pull such an embarrassing PK during copa or wc. I’d imagine he tried the stupid panenka for legacy reasons.
As for everyone else, it’s like a game of roshambo. Aside from Nico, i think they’re avg > below avg > outright shit. I dread NT penalties…
What a run by messi in 41st minute. Almost scored after breaking past entire atleti defense.
He has to beat 5-6 players to score today, pathetic team…Simeone eats Koeman.
fair result today at 1.1 . Its finally going to be Argentines to help Argentines. If Ocampos , Acuna, Papu manage to beat Real Madrid tomorrow – its going to be Simeone or Messi winning La Liga. Julen Lopetegui can also get his payback for his Real madrid unfair firing . Expecting a cliffhanger in balance 3 games . Barcelona now has easiest draw & better goal difference. Real madrid has all 3 matches against top 10 sides – Sevilla , Granada , Atheltic Bilbao – but zidane can win all three & win La liga also. Simeone has one tough match against Real Sociedad .
i personally want Simeone winning La Liga. Anyway even if Messi wins , i doubt he will win Balon Dor with Kevin Debryune around . So will be good for Simeone to win a much needed title
Even if Barca’s economic situation allows, I think he’d better stay at Inter. Koemen’s formation is 3142, so there will be only 1 spot for 5-6 international players in Barca. If he need challenges, he should go to Premier League instead of Liga. Then it makes sense because there are so many top teams there and lot of matches for them. You can play at least 30 intensive matches per season.
barco ball control is amazing but his play mainly focused on attacking rather than playmaker of the game… another player luka romero who is also amazing but his lack of experience doesn’t fit with squad now. but argentina need some creative midfield commanding player in central position who will control, command midfield as well as playmake the game as like as xavi,thiago, or veratti …. argentina in need of luka romero but he is only 16 years old
Buendia and de Paul score
Best potential line up for copa 2021
Joaquin Lautaro Messi
Lo celso Paredes De paul
Acuna C romero Guido Ocampos
Emi martinez
is locelso good at commanding central midfield like thiago alcantara,modric,dejong,gundogan, veratti??? i think thiago,modric,veratti is very good in that position … palacios has some defensive contribution but his level is not equal to thiago,modric,veratti in midfield..
I think absolutely Lo Celso can be on par with those midfielders, when he is in top physical condition he can be an outstanding player. He can dribble, he is smart with his decision making, he is a great passer, he can shoot well too. On top of that his defensive contribution is not too shabby either. A great all around midfielder.
In general, a midfield of Lo Celso (Palacios), Paredes and De Paul is a formidable one indeed.
Agreed, Lo Celso is right up there with all those plus he far more of an attacking threat than any of them, just think back to his season in la liga with Betis, the kid was an attacking freak.
Yeah Argentina’s midfield looks good for the first time since 2016 copa, add Guido and Papu to the 4 you mentioned and I think Argentina’s midfield can stand up to those of Brazil, Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
Putiing locelso in the same box as of midfield dictator like veratti, dejong, thiago or modric is nothing you are just over glorifying him and its not even his profile its Paredes job to do those things.
For me locelso is not worldclass or something he is just a good adm if he is played player in proper position. He may turn into something else but he is already 25 and i havent seen any improvement after his betis days and even becoming injury prone.
paredes vision or ball distribusion is amazaing but dictating or controlling midfield with ball like thiago, veratti, or xavi kante,, is n’t as equal to there level..and it can be seen in paredes play little lazy .. so there is someone need in middle who can play the rest of role like xavi,thiago, or veratti (this player can move ball even in crowd)… this is important aspect which argentina should presence … otherwise worldclass attack will be no use
I’m not talking about dictating the midfield, I’m talking about being all rounded midfielder, some one who can play deep and start attacks, someone who can hold the ball in CM and someone who can play up top and attack, Celso can do all those tasks as well as the best of them.
The reason Lo Celso hasn’t developed too much this year is injuries. But we’ve seen what he can do in the qualifiers and he is a must have. He doesn’t necessarily have to perform world class in the premier league to be good for us. Like mamoun said he is very well rounded; passing, tackling, versatility, and dribbling. He can also provide goals and assists which his premier league numbers don’t show for a variety of reasons (he has created own goals which aren’t assists, unfortunate offside assists, many pre assists as well, plus the fact that Jose transformer Kane into a creative player that is meant to score goals and distribute, eating away many Goals and assists from other players, particularly Lo Celso who has sometimes been forced to play deeper than preferred), for the NT he can create assists and provide creativity which is great for our top notch attacking players
Nice to hear that.. I’m also excited about integration luka romero in senior team before world cup. Is luka romero selected for Olympic. Luka Romero almost identical to messi except their playing position and role
No he is not from what I saw at club. He cannot play his best football if he plays too deep like today against Leeds. His playing style is very different from the list of central midfielders that you mentioned, his best position is 10 like how he played with Betis. I don’t think Argentina really needs a 10, I’d prefer to have 2 versatile players like De Paul and Palacios next to Paredes.
depaul in right flank it is ok.. paredes with his vision in deep midfield is also ok.. but there will be extrabit dynamism centrally need interms of controll and quick movement of ball, good ability to holding ball and good passer ball within ground… which aspect palacios don’t full fill yet ..
Is ARGENTINA still co-hosting the tournament or not?
Last i read Arg withdrew as host due to Covid concerns but i don’t think Colombia doing much better so i dont get why it makes sense to green light Colombia as sole host. Perhaps the concern isn’t the individual country but more to do with traveling mid tournament. If so, why not host the whole darn thing in Arg only??
Cox can you chime in…what do you think will happen?
my friend as we speak now there is not exist such a thing.
not officially at least. as we speak now we play at Monumental at 13 June against Chile. i don t believe it will change that for various reasons.
Nice 👍
Thanks for the input and I’m glad its still going to happen in ARG.
i think argentina will miss alario in certain point. bcs he was very good in the air.. and he could be very good substitue in certain point of the game in need
I’m sure im missing someone obvious but Aguero, Martinez, Tagliafico, + Icardi if called are all excellent in the air.
I didn’t think we miss Alario. When we have allready Lautaro, Aguero, Icardi, Joaquin Correa.
Lionel Scaloni should come with best line up to win with Argentina and Messi. It is his job to win Copa America and World Cup. Messi has suffers enough with Argentina and with Barcelona now he deserves titles for country and the club. I think if Argentina chooses right player they are favorite to lift the title Copa America and World Cup.
Comments are closed.