It was made to be desired.
More than a calendar year and 777 minutes on the court
is the time that
Lautaro Martínez
had to wait to end his longest drought with the Argentine National Team.
He scored the final 3-1 against Costa Rica
in what ended up being a match that had a high personal value for El
Toro
, beyond being a friendly.
The thing is that, in addition to breaking the bad streak, the goal against the Ticos also has a historical meaning.
The thing is that after the game, from the darkness a piece of information emerged, overshadowed by the curse it carried:
he entered the Top 10 of top scorers who wore the Albiceleste shirt of all time
.
Since a friendly against Honduras, in September 2022 prior to the World Cup in Qatar, Lautaro had not celebrated a goal
with the National Team.
In the middle, at Inter Milan he got tired of sinking nets and became captain.
This season he has 23 goals in 29 games.
Unobjectionable numbers, but which he did not finish translating in each call with Argentina.
It was a topic that made him increasingly "nervous and anxious."
"Even though you try to avoid those things, sometimes you think and you're always thinking about it," he explained in the early hours of Wednesday, when he had already taken off his backpack.
But after thousands of situations involved,
Lautaro said goodbye to the mufa and ended up breaking the wall
that was built overnight under the goal of each rival on duty in the National Team.
That, without counting the unusual goals that were disallowed on the first date in Qatar against Saudi Arabia, both with exquisite finishes.
Thus, with the goal against Costa Rica,
El Toro reached his 22nd shout with Argentina
, the one that seemed to elude him so much and that from the beginning seemed to have no relationship with the Top 10.
He converted them into 56 games
, all during the cycle of Lionel Scaloni, a stage in which he remains the second highest scorer, behind Lionel Messi who appears with 41 shouts.
Now he has broken the curse, celebrated for the first time as world champion and is lucky to have entered a group of privileged lovers of goals.
With 26 years under his belt and a long road still ahead of him, Lautaro begins a race to engrave his name among the best scorers in the history of the National Team.
He took the first step in the early hours of this Wednesday: he equaled René Pontoni, an old record that was recorded between 1942 and 1945. Of course, the star of Leprosy in the 1940s achieved it in 20 games, with a very high average of 1.1 goals per game.
Where is the Bull pointing now? To Daniel Passarella and Luis Artime, who have a record of 23 and 24 goals
, respectively.
LAUTARO MARTÍNEZ IS BACK.
🇦🇷🤫 pic.twitter.com/QCk0i9guz7
— Ataque Futbolero (@AtaqueFutbolero) March 27, 2024
The factor that Lautaro has in his favor is that only two players who make up the Top 10 are still active: Lionel Messi (who seems unattainable), the undisputed leader of the ranking with 106 goals, and
Ángel Di María
, who is seventh. with 29 screams.
However,
Fideo
's journey in the National Team will end after the Copa América.
Likewise, the goal of becoming the center forward with the best record can be complicated for El Toro.
He will have the far from easy task of surpassing
Gabriel Batistuta
, who led the list with 54 goals (in 77 games) until the appearance of Messi.
Bati also has a very high goal average of 0.7 per game played.
Between Bati and El Toro there are six other names:
Sergio Agüero
(42 goals),
Hernán Crespo
(35),
Diego Maradona
(32),
Gonzalo Higuaín
(31),
Ángel Di María
(30),
Luis Artime
(24) and
Daniel Passarella
(23).
A path full of stars to avoid.
Lautaro still has a long journey ahead if he wants to reach the top 3. The last step on the podium goes to Sergio Agüero with 42 goals, 20 more than the player from Bahia.
"
Very happy to enter the top 10 scorers of the Argentine National Team. Thank you to everyone who supports me. Let's go for more
," the Bahía Blanca native wrote on his Instagram account upon learning of his new personal milestone.
See this post on Instagram
A shared post from Lautaro Javier Martinez (@lautaromartinez)
The positive fact:
in three months Lautaro will once again wear the world champion's shirt with the hope of revalidating the Copa América
, which will begin on June 20 in the United States.
The final test before Scaloni must put together the list of those called up, El Toro passed.
In the days before the start of the continental tournament, Argentina will play two friendly duels.
One against
Guatemala
and the other against
Ecuador
.
Martínez will have the opportunity to relight the fuse and show that the drought is now part of the past.
In the case of continuing to provide goal shouts for the country, he will in parallel make his name continue to climb in the historical ranking.
Ceiling?
He still appears to be unknown
, he only knows that getting on the list was something he wanted.