The 2023 Supercoppa Italiana saw a dream matchup between last season’s Italian Serie A winners SSC Napoli and 19-time Italian champions Inter Milan that are led by captain Lautaro Martínez in the finale. The final whistle had the traditional juggernauts of Italian club football to reign supreme over the defending Italian top-flight football winners, with their skipper Lautaro Martínez breaking the opponents’ hearts by scoring a winning goal right at the death of the match.
Captain Fantastic Lautaro Martínez Scored Late to Win Inter Their Eighth Supercoppa Italiana
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan has been one of the toughest teams to beat in domestic football in Italy this season, and they registered four wins and a draw in their performance in the previous five games prior to the 2023 Supercoppa Italiana Final. SSC Napoli, on the other hand, had not been able to replicate their form to win last season’s Italian Serie A title this year thus far. The Walter Mazzarri-managed side lost twice and drew once in their own five matches before the 2023 Supercoppa Italiana Final.
No one was able to find the breakthrough during the large part of the game due to the defensive presence displayed by both sides, and not even a red card to 28-year-old Giovanni Simeone allowed Inter Milan to break the deadlock quickly; SSC Napoli striker Simeone was given his marching orders in the 60th minute due to a foul on Inter defender Francesco Acerbi, having been booked for his offence just a few minutes earlier.
Nerazzurri finally made their number of players count during the injury time of this 2023 Supercoppa Italiana Final, and it was the red-carded Simeone’s younger compatriot Lautaro Martínez who put his team onto the scoresheet. Inter’s new summer signing Benjamin Pavard played a one-two with substitute Alexis Sánchez, before the Frenchman charged into the penalty box and sent a delicate cross into the close range of the SSC Napoli goal. Club captain and striker sensation from Argentina Lautaro Martínez could do no wrong with the golden opportunity, scoring the only goal of the game at Al-Awwal Stadium and winning the eventual 2023 Supercoppa Italiana title for his long-time club.
Also Read: 2023 Supercoppa Italiana Semi-Final: Higher-Placed Fiorentina Overwhelmed by Clinical Napoli
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Lautaro Martínez in 2023/2024: 21 Goals and Five Assists
The triumph over the defending Italian champions SSC Napoli became Inter’s eighth in the history of the celebrated Supercoppa Italiana, having won the major silverware back in 1989, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2021 and 2022. Besides, Nerazzurri are only a trophy away from equaling Juventus’s all-time record of nine wins in the Supercoppa Italiana Finals with their victory over SSC Napoli last night.
With his winner against SSC Napoli at the 2023 Supercoppa Italiana last night, Lautaro Martínez has now scored 21 goals on top of five assists in 27 games in all competitions for Inter Milan this season. The winning goal in the Italian Super Cup Final also meant the Argentine has netted 123 times for the 19-time Italian Serie A champions. It is worth mentioning that Lautaro Martínez had the best season of his professional senior career in football with 28 goals in 57 games last year, and he is well on course to beat that record by a big margin with about half a season to go in 2023/2024.
One of the craziest games Lautaro Martínez had this season was his four-goal performance against fellow Italian Serie A side US Salernitana 1919 as a super sub on Matchday 7 of this Italian top-flight football season. The Argentine striker came onto the pitch as a 55th-minute replacement for Alexis Sánchez and became the first and only player in the history of the competition to found the net four times in a game as a substitute. The full match details of Lautaro Martínez’s emphatic scoring spree can be read here.
🇦🇷 Lautaro Martinez this season is just incredible:
👕 27 games
⚽️ 21 goals
🎯 5 assists
🤝 26 goal contributions
🏆 Italian Super CupCaptain Lautaro! 👏🏽🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/Jd1RnUiznF
— Sholy Nation Sports (@Sholynationsp) January 22, 2024
Inzaghi: “Napoli Fought Like Lions.”
Inter Milan gaffer Inzaghi gave his thoughts on the performances displayed by both his side and SSC Napoli. He said: “We compliment Napoli for a great performance, they defended very well and fought like lions. Naturally, losing a Final at the 90th is always painful. I also want to congratulate my players. They played a semi-final and then a Final 60 hours later, which was new for everyone. We paid a price for that in fatigue, but the lads stayed concentrated. Sommer made one save, we probably could’ve scored earlier, but we were up against a well-organised opponent.”
The 47-year-old Italian went on to add: “I have a special dedication for our fans, who made a long journey to come here. We wanted to enjoy the moment with them and at the goal all the players including those on the bench ran over to experience it with the fans. There are no secrets really, you need a great team, which I have at Inter and before that with Lazio. I was optimistic, but only to a certain degree, because usually you have a week or more to prepare for a Final and we didn’t have that here. I want to praise the players who came off the bench, they were effective in the build-up to the goal.”
Lautaro Martínez, the forward who scored the winner in this Supercoppa Italiana Final and lifted the eventual trophy as the skipper, had this to say during the post-match conference. “I’m very proud and happy because this was one of our objectives this season. We’d performed really well against Lazio, and we needed to do our job once again. We struggled somewhat but managed to win the trophy for a third consecutive year. I’m proud of this team and was thrilled when I scored: it was a special moment. It was important to win this trophy today and we managed to do it, but now our thoughts will turn to Fiorentina,” said the Argentine.
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