AFP – Lautaro Martinez shot Inter Milan to a third straight Italian Super Cup after netting in the final moments of Tuesday’s 1-0 win over furious Napoli in Riyadh.
Argentina striker Martinez swept home Benjamin Pavard’s low cross in the first minute of stoppage time at Al-Awwal Park, seeing off Napoli who played the final half-hour with 10 men after Giovanni Simeone was sent off for two bookable offences.
The 26-year-old’s winner was his 21st goal in all competitions this season for Inter, who lost their Serie A lead to Juventus while in Saudi Arabia for the four-team tournament.
And he whipped his shirt off in celebration after drawing level with Christian Vieri at ninth place in Inter’s all-time goalscoring charts, with 123 strikes since arriving in 2018.
“The emotion took over and I couldn’t think,” Martinez told Mediaset. “It was a unique moment, I scored my 100th goal in the Italian Cup Final and my 123rd goal in the Super Cup, allowing me to match a legend like Christian Vieri.”
Martinez’s goal gave Inter coach Simone Inzaghi a record-breaking fifth Super Cup win in his career after winning it for the third successive year.
Inzaghi overtakes Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi, two icons of Italian coaching, for Super Cup wins.
The 47-year-old also won it twice while managing Lazio, in 2017 and 2019.