Inter Milan are one of the most in-form teams across Europe's top five leagues right now having won 13 straight games including a huge first-leg victory against Atletico Madrid. Having reached the final of the Champions League last season, Inter will be hoping to go one better this time around.
The Serie A leaders were thankful to Marko Arnautovic for the goal with their usual talisman, Lautaro Martinez, not able to find the back of the net and hooked off before full time, so he'll be hoping to get some revenge in this reverse fixture.
Lautaro Martinez Champions League goals
Number of match winners
Martinez has not proven himself to be a prolific striker in Europe's elite competition with just 12 goals in 43 appearances, but still only 26 years of age, he has time to keep adjusting his game. The Argentine striker has still managed to net four important winners during his time with Inter and we're going to look at two of his most important.
Inter Milan 1-0 AC Milan (score at 1-0)
This was one of the biggest and most important European nights in Inter Milan's recent history. Facing off against their big rivals to see who would earn a spot in the Champions League final. Inter had won the first leg 2-0 and were in control, but they failed to score early on and allowed their opponents to stay in the game.
That was until the 74th minute when Inter's top scorer and man for the big moments, Martinez, stepped up and fired one past Mike Maignan to send the San Siro wild, knowing they'd all but secured their spot on the biggest stage in club football. Given it finished 1-0, a stalemate would've been enough for Inter, but Martinez took no chances and etched his name into history.
Liverpool 0-1 Inter Milan (score at 0-1)
Having suffered a damning 2-0 home defeat against Liverpool in the Champions League back in March 2022, the odds were certainly stacked against Inter Milan to keep their European adventure alive.
While they did end up going out to the Reds, it wasn't without the Italian giants giving their best efforts. Martinez struck just after the hour mark meaning Inter needed just one more goal to force extra-time, but it wasn't to be for the Serie A side.
However, it will go down in history as a famous victory on the day because it was Inter's first win at Anfield in the Champions League, something they can certainly remain proud of.
Martinez has only got two goals in the Champions League this season, but they've both come away from home, so you may like the idea of him scoring anytime with odds of 19/10
How does Martinez tend to score?
As mentioned above, Martinez is not the most frequent goalscorer in the Champions League with 12 strikes to his name, so betting on specific methods for him to net is quite the task. Out of the 12 goals Martinez has scored, 11 of them have come from open play – one which didn't was a penalty – and he's very one-footed.
The Argentine star has scored eight goals with his right foot, and another four with his left, so it looks pretty obvious that if Atletico can show him onto his weaker foot, the chance of his scoring drops significantly.
Martinez has scored in five winning games for Inter, and four of them have resulted in the other team failing to find the back of the net. So, backing Martinez to score and Inter to win to nil would provide odds of 15/2.
Does Martinez prefer early or late goals in the Champions League?
Martinez is the man for big games and big moments in Milan. He's scored huge goals and looks to be one of the main reasons why they are going to pick up yet another Serie A title this season with his 23 goals helping them open up a healthy 16-point lead at the top right now.
In the Champions League, the Argentine has often popped up late in games to make a difference. Out of the 12 goals he's scored in this competition, Martinez has bagged seven of them in the second half, and all of them have been after the 60th-minute mark.
So, you could opt for Martinez to score as we tipped above, but also for the second half to have the most amount of goals in the game, and does offer very attractive odds of around 11/5.
Remember, we offer plenty more free betting tips for the Champions League and other competitions across the world.
