Lautaro Martinez scored a hat-trick as Inter Milan confirmed their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a comfortable victory against Monaco, who had to settle for a place in the knockout round.
The Argentine scored twice in the first half and once in the second, in doing so overtaking Adriano to become Inter’s all-time leading goalscorer in the Champions League.
Inter needed only a point to avoid the play-off round and effectively wrapped up the match in the first 20 minutes as they capitalised on shoddy Monaco defending and secured a fourth-placed finish.
Captain Martinez scored from the penalty spot in the fourth minute after Marcus Thuram was fouled from behind by Denis Zakaria.
Monaco defender Christian Mawissa was then sent off in the 12th minute after he hauled down Thuram and Martinez swept in his second four minutes later.
Martinez added a third in the 67th minute by tapping in the rebound after Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s shot was saved.
That took the World Cup-winner level with Sandro Mazzola, who scored 17 goals between 1960 and 1977, as Inter’s leading scorer in the history of European football’s top-tier competition across both the Champions League and European Cup eras.
He had chances for further goals before being substituted in the 76th minute with the Milan derby to come on Saturday.
Inter, beaten finalists in 2023, progress with six wins from eight matches and an impressive seven clean sheets. They have only conceded once across the entire league phase.
They could face city rivals AC Milan in the last 16. PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord and Juventus are their other potential opponents.
Monaco finished 17th and will play Paris St-Germain or Benfica in the knockout round.
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Publish date : 2025-01-25 19:00:00
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