Lautaro Martinez.. wiped Messi’s tears and led Argentina to glory in the Copa America

The star was able to Argentinian Lautaro Martinez (26 years old) from leading his country to winning the title Copa America For the second time in a row and the 16th in his history, after scoring the only winning goal against Colombia in the 112th minute of the final match that was held at dawn on Monday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, USA. The professional striker in the ranks of the Italian club Inter Milan succeeded in restoring his reputation, after he gave his country the title of the 48th edition of the Copa America Championship that was held in the United States of America, after he was subjected to great criticism throughout the past years, and lost his starting place in the lineup of Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni in favor of his compatriot Julian Alvarez.

He grew up in a very sporty family.

Lautaro Martinez was born on August 22, 1997 in the Argentine city of Bahia Blanca. He grew up in a family of sportsmen par excellence. He is the son of former player Javier Martinez, who previously played as a left back for several clubs in Argentina, most notably Villa Mitre, when it was active in the second division. His football career began early, when he joined the Liniers de Bahia Blanca team, where he quickly stood out among all his teammates, although he suffered a lot, as he had to travel by train and bus from his family’s home to the training headquarters at the academy. Lautaro was also fascinated by another sport, basketball, which is very popular in his city.

Lautaro and Boca Juniors’ big shock

When Lautaro reached the age of 15, he was forced to choose between basketball and football, and eventually preferred the latter. However, he received a huge shock after he tried out for Boca Juniors, where he was rejected on the grounds that he did not have the level to play for the team. Despite this, he did not give up and continued his development, attracting the attention of the technical director of the youth team at Racing Club, Fabio Radeli. He joined the club in 2014 and played only one season before being promoted to the first team, and he stayed with it for three full seasons, during which he caught the attention of his country’s national team, and he was invited to represent the Tango in 2018.

Lautaro and his professionalism in the Italian League

In the summer of 2018, Inter Milan signed Martinez from Racing Club in a deal worth 22.7 million euros, and from there his story of brilliance with the Nerazzurri began, as he is considered one of the best players in the team in the past six seasons, whether under the leadership of former coach Antonio Conte, or the current Simone Inzaghi, before he wore the captain’s armband and contributed to the club’s coronation with the Calcio title last football season, and reached the Champions League final the season before last, losing to the English club Manchester City.

A respectable international career… and a Colombia match to restore honor

Since wearing the Argentina national team jersey, Lautaro participated in the Copa America in 2019, scoring two goals in a version in which his country achieved third place, after losing to the Brazilian national team in the semi-finals, then defeating the Chilean national team in the ranking match, then returned and participated in the last version that witnessed the Tango team winning the title, and Lautaro managed to score three goals, and his journey with his country’s national team continued in the World Cup finals in Qatar 2022, as he was a key player in coach Lionel Scaloni’s squad, but after losing to Saudi Arabia in the first round and participating for 60 minutes against Mexico in the second round, the 26-year-old player lost his starting place in favor of Alvarez, and became a substitute player throughout the competition.

Lautaro has been heavily criticised since his participation in the last edition of the 2022 World Cup, but the current edition of the Copa America was a new opportunity to restore his reputation, as he started in this tournament as a substitute in the matches against Canada and Chile, in the first and second rounds of the group stage, before participating as a starter against Peru in the third round, then against Ecuador in the quarter-finals, and returned as a substitute against Canada in the semi-finals and also against Colombia in the exciting final, scoring his most important and valuable goals ever on a night in which his country’s legend Lionel Messi shed tears of sadness for leaving due to injury and fearing for the fate of the team for the rest of the time, but Lautaro wiped Messi’s tears and gave him the only winning goal, then he was crowned the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, thus giving his country another continental title.