Lautaro Martinez urged Inter Milan to repeat what he believes was a “complete” performance after they claimed a dramatic 2-1 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.
Martinez gave Inter a 38th-minute lead at the Allianz Arena with an unerring finish with the outside of the boot.
A depleted Bayern side levelled matters when Thomas Muller struck from point-blank range five minutes from the end of normal time.
But just under three minutes later, Davide Frattesi rounded off a wonderfully worked Inter counter to ensure they will take a lead back to San Siro next week after handing Bayern their first home Champions League defeat since 2021.
Yet Martinez knows the job is far from done, even though he could not find fault with Inter’s performance, which came after they let a two-goal lead slip against Parma last weekend.
“We talked so much after the draw with Parma. We want to keep improving and if we want to win, we’ve got to leave that behind us to take the result here,” Martinez told Sky Sport Italia.
“This performance was complete in every respect, we showed character, quality, did well in possession and off it against a strong opponent. In a huge stadium against a great team, the lads proved what they can do and that they deserve to wear this jersey.
“Our performance and attitude must be the same in the second leg. We took the ball off them in the first half and saw how much they suffered, so we need quality as well as determination.”
On his goal, which saw Martinez become the first Inter player since Samuel Eto’o in 2010-11 to score seven goals in a single Champions League campaign, he added: “I won a challenge in midfield, then saw the space, Carlo [Augusto] ran into it and Marcus [Thuram] thankfully laid it off for me.
“I wanted originally to shoot with my left foot, but I had so many players in front of me, so I opted to change it and go with the other boot. Fortunately, it went in and gave us the lead.”
