After Romelu Lukaku, the Qatar World Cup is also sapping the confidence of another Inter striker, as Lautaro Martinez wasted several chances for Argentina and earned some unflattering comparisons online.
The Seleccion scraped through to the quarter-finals where they will face the Netherlands after a 2-1 win over Australia.
Lautaro Martinez was dropped to the bench for the second game in a row, and on the strength of this performance, will not be getting back into the starting XI.
His replacement, Julian Alvarez, found the net for the second match running.
When Lautaro Martinez did come on, he blazed a huge chance over the bar, then fired two more opportunities straight at the on-rushing goalkeeper.
Only a last-gasp Emi Martinez save managed to deny Australia an equaliser deep into stoppages.
Lautaro Martinez still does not have a goal in World Cup tournaments and his name was trending for all the wrong reasons on social media in Argentina.
Quite a few said he was taking the role that Gonzalo Higuain had in the 2014 World Cup, while some went even further back and compared him to Rodrigo Palacio.
After Lukaku and Belgium crashed out in the group phase with the striker’s horrible misses against Croatia, it is worrying for Inter to see their other main hitman also struggling for confidence and form in Qatar.
Blame Scaloni. The team is not constructed very well. Dybala has been disrespected with zero minutes. Higuain will be very proud of el toro. They will be out next round. Acuna, Montiel and many others are fine bricklayers. Feel for Messi as he cannot do it all on his own. Not to forget the backline who will never be able to deal with a European nation like France or even the fish and chip boys with their rocket launcher corners.
LORD ALLEGRI PATRON SAINT OF SLOW BALL, I hope you’re wrong. 😉
Whenever there is a negative story on this site about inter or an inter player. You automatically know who the author is.
Can’t take a negative story eh? Why shoot the messenger?
Argentina won due to a lucky ricochet for Messis finish and a horrible decision by the Aussie GK.
They should win this match 9 out of 10 times, and had the chances to do so by 3-4 goals, but the way it develops they were lucky to avoid overtime.
This would not be enough against Holland. They need to shape up.
Lautaro was awful. As a striker, those chances… That was his moment and he got it all wrong.