‘Heart and soul’ vital for Inter in Genoa win, says Lautaro Martinez

Lautaro Martinez praised Inter for placing everything they had to win a victory against Genoa to rectify the disappointing loss of last weekend for Juventus.

Inter struggled to find a breakthrough in San Siro on Saturday, until Lautaro Martinez met the corner of Hakan Calhanoglu to go home the winner in the 78th minute.

The Nerazzurri have worked lately and won only one of their four games prior to this victory – a period in which Martinez did not score – and although they might not be impressed, they did enough against Genoa.

This season has now won three home games in a row this season for the first time; The last time they had managed such a run in the tournament was between October 2023 and March 2024 (nine in a row).

It was a victory that Intert Top of Serie A achieved, a point above Napoli, who is opposite Como on Sunday, and Martinez was happy to get it over the line.

“It was not a great quality game, but we put our hearts and soul in it,” Martinez told Dazn.

“The most important thing was to take the three points after the loss against Juventus that hurt us very badly. We stand, concentrated.

“I am happy for this victory, for my teammates and the fans.”

Martinez struggled this season to repeat his targeted form of recent campaigns. The Argentinian yielded at least 20 league goals in each of the last three seasons, while the goal against Genoa was his 10th this season.

However, he became the first non-Italian player in the history of Inter who reached double digits in six different Series A seasons. His goal on Saturday was also his 113rd in the competition for Inter and moved him to Joint-Zesde in their scoring diagrams of all time.

His goal ensured that they put pressure on Napoli, that internal meeting in a crunch collision next weekend, and Martinez was asked if Saturday's victory was a signal for their title rivals.

“No, it's a signal for us that we are still here after the defeat of Juventus,” he replied.

“It may happen that your goals are missing, these games are decided so. We must continue to grow in this aspect.”