argentine association football player

Lautaro Javier Martínez ( digest 22 August 1997 ) is an Argentine professional football player who plays as a striker for Serie A club Inter Milan and the Argentina national team. Martínez began his football career in his native Argentina, where he made his aged introduction in 2015 with Racing Club. There he spent four seasons and represented the club in the league and Copa Libertadores, scoring 27 goals in 60 appearances before joining Inter in 2018, where he won the Serie A style in his third season with the club.

Martínez besides previously represented Argentina at versatile young person levels and competed at the 2017 south american english U-20 Championship and 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He made his aged external debut in 2018, and represented the senior squad at the Copa América in 2019, helping his team to a third place finish up, and 2021, winning the latter edition of the tournament .

Club career [edit ]

early career [edit ]

Martínez was born in Bahía Blanca. He followed in his don ‘s footsteps to become a professional football player, joining local anesthetic side Liniers, with whom he excelled at U17 level. [ 3 ] In 2013, he scored 13 goals in the U17 league and netted in the concluding of the National Cup, though Liniers ultimately lost on penalties to Rosario. [ 4 ] [ 5 ]

Racing Club [edit ]

Martínez ‘s class at youth level caught the attention of Racing Club interim bus Fabio Radaelli who subsequently signed him in January 2014. [ 4 ] Soon after joining the golf club, Martínez began suffering from homesickness and wanted to return to his hometown. He was ultimately convinced by teammate Braian Mansilla to stay and went on to score 53 goals in 64 appearances for the clubhouse ‘s reserve side. [ 3 ] In 2015, a deal was concluded between Racing Club and spanish side Real Madrid for Martínez ‘s signature but he chose to remain in Argentina. Martínez ‘s beget, Mario late revealed that he chose to stay with Racing at the clock as he was not cook to leave the club. [ 6 ] His league debut followed on 1 November 2015 when he came on as a second-half substitute for Diego Milito in a 3–0 win over Crucero del Norte. [ 7 ] On 17 April 2016, he was sent off for the first time in his career after picking up two bookings in the space of five minutes in a 2–2 draw with Argentinos. [ 3 ] He scored his beginning goal late that year, netting the opener in a 1–1 draw with Huracán in November. [ 3 ] Following an injury to regular starting striker Lisandro López, Martínez assumed a more elder role for the 2016–17 season, scoring 9 goals in 23 league appearances for the campaign. [ 3 ] [ 8 ] He continued to lead the channel for Racing during the first gear one-half of the follow temper and in December 2017 undergo a aesculapian with La Liga side Atlético Madrid. [ 9 ] Reports followed that Martínez had signed for Atlético Madrid side but Racing late announced that he had signed a renewed contract which included an increased publish clause. They besides criticised their spanish contemporaries for submitting him to a checkup without their license. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] He ended the class with a valet of the catch performance, scoring once and assisting another in a 3–1 succeed over Gimnasia. [ 11 ] On 27 February, he scored his second hat-trick of the season when he scored three times on his Copa Libertadores introduction against brazilian side Cruzeiro. Racing won the match 4–2. [ 12 ] That like month, Martínez was linked with a transfer to italian side Inter Milan and on 5 May Racing Club President Victor Blanco confirmed that the sale had gone through. Blanco indicated that Martínez was set to join Inter ahead of the 2018–19 Serie A campaign but that he would attempt to keep him on lend until December 2018 in order for the striker to continue to participate in the Argentine side ‘s Copa Libertadores crusade. [ 13 ] [ 14 ]

Inter Milan [edit ]

Martínez formally joined Inter on 4 July 2018 for a report fee of €22.7 million and he signed a five-year narrow with the golf club. [ 15 ] He made his unofficial debut ten days late and scored in a 3–0 friendly win over swiss club, Lugano. [ 16 ] His full debut followed on 19 August when he started in a 1–0 Serie A loss to Sassuolo in the opening week. [ 17 ] He scored his first league goal against Cagliari, the opener of a 2–0 gain at San Siro on 29 September. [ 18 ] Martínez scored his first european goal on 14 February 2019, netting a punishment to help Inter win against Rapid Wien, in the first base branch of 2018–19 UEFA Europa League round of 32. [ 19 ] Following this meet, he began to start in every match, profiting from Mauro Icardi ‘s abstence due to personal reasons. [ 20 ] In his first Derby della Madonnina match against city rivals Milan, Martínez first base assisted Matías Vecino ‘s header before scoring himself a penalty in the second half, helping Inter to win 3–2 ; [ 21 ] Inter retook the third station in Serie A, [ 22 ] and besides achieved the inaugural league double over them since 2011–12 season. [ 23 ] On 2 October 2019, Martínez scored his first goal in UEFA Champions League in a 2–1 aside defeat to Barcelona in group phase ; [ 24 ] he became the foremost player since Roberto Boninsegna in 1970 to score at Camp Nou for Inter. [ 25 ] Later in the contest, by scoring a brace in a 3–1 away win against Slavia Prague, Martínez reached two milestones : he became entirely the one-fourth Inter player ( after Hernán Crespo in 2002, Christian Vieri in 2003 and Samuel Eto’o in 2010 ) and the fifth Argentinian player ( after Hernan Crespo in 2002, Lionel Messi in six occasions, Sergio Agüero in 2019 and Ezequiel Lavezzi in 2013 ) to score in four consecutive Champions League games. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] On 17 August 2020, Martínez scored a brace in a 5–0 succeed against Shakhtar Donetsk to reach the 2020 UEFA Europa League Final. [ 28 ]

International career [edit ]

Youth team [edit ]

In 2017, Martínez represented Argentina at the 2017 confederacy american U-20 Championship where he ended as the tournament ‘s joint-top scorer with five goals, in the work helping Argentina modify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. [ 7 ] He was subsequently named in the squad for the World Cup which kicked off in May that class. In the build-up to the tournament, he suffered damage to his adenoidal cartilage after being struck by a knee in a warm-up catch against Vietnam. [ 29 ] As a result of the wound, he started Argentina ‘s open match at the tournament against England from the judiciary and was late sent off after television technology indicated that he had lashed out at Fikayo Tomori. Upon doing therefore, he became the first always player to be dismissed after a video referral, and Argentina ultimately lost the pit 3–0. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] [ 31 ] On his revert, he scored a pair in a 5–0 acquire over Guinea, though his goals were not enough to prevent Argentina from being eliminated from the group-stages. [ 29 ] [ 32 ]

Senior team [edit ]

On 12 March 2018, Martínez received his first call-up for the senior team for two friendly matches against Italy and Spain. [ 33 ] He made his debut against the latter on 27 March, coming on as a substitute for Gonzalo Higuaín in a 6–1 kill. [ 34 ] In May 2018 he was named in Argentina ’ s preliminary police squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia but was omitted from the concluding selection. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] Later that class, he made his fully debut in a 4–0 friendly gain over Iraq during which he besides scored his first senior international finish. [ 37 ]

In May 2019, Martínez was included in Lionel Scaloni ‘s concluding 23-man Argentina police squad for the 2019 Copa América. [ 38 ] In Argentina ‘s concluding group match against Qatar on 23 June, he scored the opening finish in a 2–0 acquire, which enabled them to advanced to the knock-out stages of the competition. [ 39 ] On 28 June, in the quarter-finals of the tournament, Martínez scored the opening goal in an eventual 2–0 winnings over Venezuela with a back-heel in the open ten minutes of the match ; he was later named Man of the match, and the victory enabled Argentina to advance to the semi-finals of the competition. [ 40 ] On 10 September 2019, Martínez scored his first international hat-trick in a friendly against Mexico, which Argentina won 4–0. [ 41 ] On 28 June 2021, he scored Argentina ‘s final examination goal in a 4–1 win over Bolivia in his nation ‘s final group match of the 2021 Copa América. [ 42 ] On 3 July, he scored the second base finish in a 3–0 gain over Ecuador in the quarter-finals of the contest. [ 43 ] On 6 July, Martínez scored the opening goal in a 1–1 draw in the semi-finals against Colombia ; he late netted his topographic point kick in Argentina ‘s eventual 3–2 penalty shoot-out victory to progress to the final. [ 44 ] [ 45 ]

style of act [edit ]

After initially playing as a cardinal defender in his youth, Martínez late established himself as a ahead, citing Radamel Falcao as one of his major influences. [ 46 ] A dynamic, immediate, agile, and technically gifted player, who is a fecund goalscorer, he is known for his elegant play style, good trickle skills, and clinical finish up ability, ampere well as surprise forcible potency and antenna art despite his diminutive stature ; [ 47 ] [ 48 ] [ 49 ] however, he has besides drawn criticism from pundits for his miss of accuracy from the punishment blemish. [ 50 ] Possessing effective link-up meet, defensive contribution, and an ability to drop deep off the ball to either press opponents or drag them out of position, he is besides a highly creative and hard-working musician, who is adequate to of assisting goals equally well as scoring them himself ; [ 49 ] [ 51 ] [ 52 ] as such, he is besides able to play as a second hitter, in addition to his common role as either a centre-forward or out–and–out striker. [ 53 ] [ 54 ] [ 55 ] due to his leadership, doggedness, and brain on the slope, he has been nicknamed El Toro ( “ The Bull, ” in spanish ). [ 56 ] [ 57 ] In 2020, Spencer Rance of 90min.com considered Martínez to be one of the most promising young players in global football, [ 58 ] while coach Mauricio Pochettino rated him as one of the best strikers in the world. [ 59 ] Former Argentina and Inter hitter Hernán Crespo likened Martínez to compatriot Sergio Agüero in 2020. [ 60 ]

career statistics [edit ]

club [edit ]

As of match played 22 December 2021[61]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Racing 2015 Argentine Primera División 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2016 Argentine Primera División 3 0 1 0 0 0 4 0
2016–17 Argentine Primera División 23 9 0 0 5[a] 0 28 9
2017–18 Argentine Primera División 21 13 0 0 6[b] 5 27 18
Total 48 22 1 0 11 5 60 27
Inter Milan 2018–19 Serie A 27 6 2 2 6[c] 1 35 9
2019–20 Serie A 35 14 3 0 11[d] 7 49 21
2020–21 Serie A 38 17 4 1 6[e] 1 47 19
2021–22 Serie A 17 11 0 0 6[e] 0 0 0 23 11
Total 117 48 9 3 29 9 0 0 155 60
Career total 165 70 10 3 40 14 0 0 215 87

International [edit ]

As of match played 16 November 2021[62]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Argentina 2018 4 1
2019 13 8
2020 4 2
2021 14 6
Total 35 17
As of match played 14 October 2021.
Scores and results list Argentina’s goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Martínez goal

Honours [edit ]

Inter Milan
Argentina
Individual

  • Ballon d’Or: 2021 Nominee
  • UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2019–20[66]

References [edit ]

Read more: FIFA 21 Pro Clubs