Lautaro Martinez vented his irritation at modern refereeing after Inter’s 1-0 win over Venezia, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan is looking forward to the Scudetto clash with Napoli.
On paper it was a rather simple task for the reigning Italian champions, but in reality it was anything but simple, as they wasted numerous scoring opportunities even after Lautaro Martinez headed home the cross from Federico Dimarco.
Marcus Thuram was particularly guilty of failing to convert chances, as was Mkhitaryan, while Inter’s Filip Stankovic also made some fine saves.
There was some late drama at 97th minute when Marin Sverko thought he had equalized with the last free kick of the match, but VAR disallowed it for handball while jumping with Yann Bisseck.
The tension reached the Argentina international, who became angry with referee Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi for his general approach.
“There were zero minutes of injury time in the first half, but seven after the break. I think football must move forward and we are not doing that,” Lautaro Martinez told DAZN.
“That’s why we’re angry. If we want football to improve, we all need to do more. In any case, let’s take these three points and continue doing our work in the field. Of course, we are also to blame for not having closed the match earlier, we did the same with Juventus. It’s a long season, but we need to improve in these details.”
Strangely, Lautaro Martinez hadn’t scored in a Serie A match at the San Siro for eight months – since hosting Atalanta in February – so this felt like one less weight on his shoulders.
“It’s about time! I always say that I work for the team, I missed two goals in the first half, but I’m happy because we took home the points.”
Lautaro Martinez irritated, Mkhitaryan in Napoli’s sights
Mkhitaryan wasted some great chances and saw another disallowed due to Federico Dimarco’s offside position in the build-up to the match.
“Playing in this team is special, I have a lot of fun and my teammates help me. I try to give my best, whether I play 60, 70 or 90 minutes,” Mkhitaryan told DAZN.
Despite facing his former team in the Champions League in midweek, the Armenian is already distracted by the next Serie A clash with the league leaders.
“We have to think about Arsenal first, then we can consider Napoli. It will be a very interesting match with Napoli, because it is a fight for the top of the table.”
