Inter Milan Optimistic About Lautaro Martinez's Return For Champions League Match Against Barcelona

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Inter Milan are optimistic that Lautaro Martinez might recover from a hamstring issue in time for the Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona on Tuesday. The Argentine forward had to leave the field at half-time during last Wednesday's exciting 3-3 draw with Barcelona. Consequently, he was absent from Inter's narrow 1-0 victory over Hellas Verona on Saturday, which kept them three points behind Serie A leaders Napoli with three matches remaining.

Assistant coach Massimiliano Farris, standing in for the suspended Simone Inzaghi, commented on Martinez's condition. "It is true that it's not a lesion, so there is a little hope, but at the moment it's more no than yes," he stated. Farris added that although Martinez hasn't trained yet, they will try everything possible because of the match's importance. "It's more no than yes right now, unfortunately," he concluded.

In their recent match against Verona, Inter made significant changes to their starting line-up. They altered ten positions from their previous game, marking the most changes between matches since December 2015 during a Coppa Italia win over Cagliari. Defender Yann Bisseck was the only player who retained his spot in the team.

Despite these adjustments, Farris refrained from calling this line-up a second-choice team. He described it as a group of players who may have limited playing time but understand their roles well. This approach paid off as Kristjan Asllani scored an early penalty in the ninth minute, securing his first Serie A goal since March 2024 against Genoa.

The visiting team posed minimal threat during the match. Amin Sarr was their standout player with an angled shot that required a sharp save from Josep Martinez. Verona managed only 0.29 expected goals throughout the game. Farris noted that they anticipated Verona would adopt a defensive stance and focus on maintaining compactness.

"We knew Verona would be compact, and it wasn't easy to find gaps," Farris explained to Sky Sport Italia. He acknowledged that while Inter could have been quicker in decision-making during the second half, they faced few serious threats from Verona.

This season, Inter have excelled at scoring penalties in Serie A alongside Roma, each netting seven goals from spot-kicks. Asllani's successful penalty against Verona highlighted this strength and proved crucial in securing three points for Inter.