ROME: Take note, Manchester City: the bigger the match, the bigger the performance from Lautaro Martinez lately.
After scoring key goals against Benfica and city rival AC Milan to help secure Inter Milan a spot in the Champions League final, Martinez netted twice as the Nerazzurri produced a 2-1 comeback win over Fiorentina to defend the Italian Cup trophy on Wednesday.
It’s the second trophy that Inter has won this season after also beating Milan in the Italian Super Cup in January — when Martinez also scored.
After a couple of matches to finish up Serie A, Martinez and Inter will be aiming for one more trophy when they face City in the Champions League final on June 10 in Istanbul.
“In all honesty, I am moved, because for a couple of years we have been bringing trophies to this great club and we’ve got to continue this way,” said Martinez, who also played a big role when Inter won Serie A in 2021. “I want to keep contributing for Inter, because that’s what matters.”
Martinez now has a career-best 27 goals across all competitions for Inter this season, having also helped Argentina win the World Cup in December. He’s also the only player to have appeared in all 54 of Inter’s matches this season.
The match at the Stadio Olimpico was lively from the start as Nicolas Gonzalez put Fiorentina ahead three minutes in following a lapse by Inter’s defense. A cross from Jonathan Ikone was allowed to float across the area for Gonzalez to knock in at the far post.
Then Martinez took over to put Inter ahead before the break.
First, a perfectly placed through ball from Marcelo Brozovic set up the equalizer as Martinez ran onto the pass and scored with an angled shot into the far corner for his 100th goal with Inter. Then Martinez produced an acrobatic volley to redirect in a pass from Nicolo Barella.
Martinez also nearly produced another goal when he set up Edin Dzeko with only the goalkeeper to beat but Dzeko’s shot sailed high over the bar.
Fiorentina will play West Ham in the Europa Conference League final on June 7.
It’s the ninth Italian Cup title for Inter, while Nerazzurri coach Simone Inzaghi has now won seven of his eight finals as a manager.
“We started poorly and had the wrong approach, which is rare for us, but the guys did well to stay in the game anyhow and then turn it around,” Inzaghi said.
By reaching the final, Inter and Fiorentina had each already qualified for next season’s expanded Italian Super Cup, which will feature four teams that also include Serie A champion Napoli and the league runner-up.
Lautaro Martinez scores 2 as Inter beats Fiorentina 2-1 for Italian Cup title
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Lautaro Martinez scores 2 as Inter beats Fiorentina 2-1 for Italian Cup title
- It’s the second trophy that Inter has won this season after also beating Milan in the Italian Super Cup in January — when Martinez also scored
Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final
- Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
- That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance
AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.
The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.
SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.
