Inter Milan Coach Says Argentina Superstar’s Fitness For Atalanta ‘One Day At A Time’ & He’s Be ‘Happy’ To Keep Ex Lazio Flop

Inter Milan coach says the fitness of Lautaro Martinez to face Atalanta on Friday will be checked “one day at a time.”

The Nerazzurri boss spoke in a press conference after this evening’s Serie A win over Lecce, as reported by FCInterNews. He also claimed he’d be “happy” to keep Joaquin Correa in the squad.

Inter did not miss their captain Martinez too much against Lecce this evening.

The Nerazzurri won 2-0, their first victory of the Serie A season.

None of Marcus Thuram, Mehdi Taremi, or Marko Arnautovic scored. But all three put in good performances to help the team.

Nevertheless, Inter won’t want to be without Martinez for too much longer.

The 27-year-old is not just the captain. Nor is he just the player who’s been Inter’s top scorer in each of the past three seasons.

Martinez is also the player who sets the tone for Inter with his linkup play and defensive workrate.

All the same, Inter certainly won’t want to have Martinez rushing back too soon. It would be better to miss the Argentine for another match than to have him pick up a more serious injury.

Inzaghi explained that “We’ve had some fatigue, because the players came back to training piecemeal.”

“We’ve had some setbacks. We try to preserve our players’ fitness.”

“We decided not to risk Lautaro,” Inzaghi added.

“We’ll see one day at a time whether he’ll be ready to be back for Friday,” the coach said of Inter’s next match at home against Atalanta.

Of the performance by striker Taremi on his first Serie A start, Inzaghi said “I liked what I saw.”

“I’ve liked what I’ve see since July 13th,” the Inter coach said of the Iranian international. “He’s intelligent, experienced, he scores a lot of goals.”

“He didn’t have the most eye-catching performance,” Inzaghi said. “But on the first goal he did well to flickthe ball on for Darmian.”

“Arnautovic also came onto the pitch with the right pitch. And Thuram did well. I got the response I was looking for.”

Meanwhile, Inzaghi also spoke about midfielder Piotr Zielinski, who did not make his Inter debut despite being available.

“I decided to make two changes in midfield,” the coach said. “But I’m sure he’ll give us a bit hand.”

And asked if he’s be happy to keep Correa in the squad to bolster the attacking depth, Inzaghi replied “Absolutely, yes.”

“Correa is working well in training,” the Inter coach said. “He’s a player I’ve known for a long time. He’s gotten to a good physical level in training.”