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Martinez rushing to be ready for Barca showdown, says Inter's Inzaghi / Photo: © AFP
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Martinez rushing to be ready for Barca showdown, says Inter's Inzaghi
Simone Inzaghi said on Monday that Lautaro Martinez is in a race against time to be fit to play in Inter Milan's Champions League showdown with Barcelona at the San Siro.
Inter captain Martinez hasn't played since being forced off with a hamstring injury in last week's thrilling first leg, which left the semi-final beautifully poised at 3-3.
The 27-year-old and France defender Benjamin Pavard are the two major injury doubts for Inter, with Martinez crucial to Inter's run to the last four.
Striker Martinez has scored seven times in the Champions League since the turn of the year, including in both quarter-final matches against Bayern Munich.
"We'll decide with the medical staff and the players because it will be them who need to tell me how they're feeling," said Inzaghi.
"Yesterday Pavard took part in the first part of training and he felt OK, so we'll see. Lautaro hasn't trained since the last match with Barca so let's see how he is today and then we'll decide."
Inzaghi said that Martinez will only be selected if he can start, suggesting that he won't be available for the clash which could determine Inter's season with the Serie A title likely heading to Napoli.
"It's unlikely that a player who can't start the match would be able to help us out in the last 25 minutes," added Inzaghi.
Inzaghi admitted that stopping Lamine Yamal will be a priority after the teenage Spain star ran Inter's defence ragged in Catalonia, scoring a wonderful goal and twice striking the woodwork.
"It's going to be really hard, we have to try to stop him getting the ball but that's almost impossible in today's football," said Inzaghi.
"He'll be getting special attention from us. We'll obviously double up on him, we'll try to give him as much attention as possible but like we said after the first match he is a great talent.
"He is really dangerous when he has the ball. When the team is in trouble they all give him the ball. But what really struck me is how quickly he thinks. When he gets the ball he already knows within a fraction of a second what he wants to do."
A. de Almeida--JDB
