Inter striker Lautaro Martinez has hailed Antonio Conte for giving the club “a different mentality”.
Martinez has grown into a first-choice attacker for Inter under Conte and scored during their 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday.
“At the end of the game, Messi gave me his shirt and I was happy about that because it’s now at home,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
Inter striker Lautaro Martinez has hailed Antonio Conte for giving the club “a different mentality”.
Martinez has grown into a first-choice attacker for Inter under Conte and scored during their 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday.
“At the end of the game, Messi gave me his shirt and I was happy about that because it’s now at home,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“My relationship with him was born in the national team. He’s very attentive to details and he’s a point of reference for me.
“As for playing with him, I’m only thinking about Inter. Then, I can play with Messi for Argentina: for me, it’s a dream come true. I looked up to him growing up.
“Conte called me on his first day and told me he wanted to coach me. He’s a Coach I really like: he has an important way of thinking, he always asks for hard work and makes sure we translate on to the field what we do in training.”
Lionel Messi is not the only superstar Lautaro will be facing this week as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus are the guests at San Siro in the Derby d’Italia on Sunday.
“Juve have many important players, so it’ll be a difficult game like the one on Wednesday. We’ll try to recover physically so we face them at 100 percent.
“After that, Conte will pick his best XI. We know Cristiano Ronaldo’s quality. He’s like Messi but on Sunday, we’ll be facing many champions.
“We’ll try to do our best, knowing that he can shift the balance. We’re going game by game and, thanks to Conte and the players, we have a different mentality.
“We’re trying to give the best possible account of ourselves on the field, then we’ll see what happens.
“Last season was one of adaptation for me. I expected to play more, but it didn’t happen for so many reasons.
“This season I’ve also found myself well in the national team. I hope to keep going like this and I’m sure the goals will come.”
Mauro Icardi was key in helping the 22-year-old adapt to life in Italy, but he has since moved on to Paris Saint-Germain.
“It was problem between him and the club, he needed to play and I’m glad he’s doing so at PSG.
“I talked to him and others. I’m happy everything is going well.”