Barcelona has a number of injury problems to compete for the second stage against Inter for the semi-final of the Champions League, but in Italy there is an injury drama about their star attacker Lautaro Martinez. The Argentina International returned early in the second half and soon indicated that he had to leave after the break.
Speaking after the game against Amazon Prime Italia (via football Italia), Inter Manager Simone Inzaghi did not sound optimistic about his chances of coming back for the second stage in the Giuseppe Meazza.
“He felt a sting, but played eight games in a row. Unfortunately we had these small problems, because I didn't have Thuram, Taremi also came from an injury and I couldn't rotate. When you started eight games in a row, there is the risk of injuries, I hope it is nothing too serious, but I have a few doubts.”
“It will be very difficult to recover Lautaro for the return bone. People understand that we have given everything against Roma, with incidents that I don't even want to talk about here. On Tuesday we will probably play without our captain, and that is already a final for us.”
In the meantime, the reports from North Italy have not painted a much brighter image in the aftermath. According to Il Mattino, Martinez, as quoted by Sport, has a FlexorTam. He will undergo further tests to understand how serious it is, and it is not excluded that he could be back on Tuesday. He will miss their weekend conflict with Hellas Verona, and if it is serious, he could be out for the rest of the season.
The most natural replacements in addition to Marcus Thuram in front would be Marko Arnautovic or Mehdi Taremi, who replaced Martinez in Montjuic on Wednesday evening. That would retain the 3-5-2 formation of Inzaghi, with which he was reasonably married. In the final phase, however, Inter did play with Piotr Zielinski and four in midfield to stop the progress of Barcelona.