ROME (AP) — Lautaro Martinez ended his post-Copa America slump 42 days into Inter Milan’s Serie A season, scoring twice in a 3-2 win for the defending champion at Udinese on Saturday.
Lautaro led the league with 24 goals last season and scored a Copa-best five goals — including the winner in the final — to lead Argentina to the trophy in July.
But he acknowledged after last weekend’s derby loss to AC Milan that he hadn’t been in top shape after going scoreless in Inter’s opening five Serie A games — plus a 0-0 draw at Manchester City in the Champions League during which he was benched at the start for his lack of fitness.
“He’s our captain and we all know what he represents,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said. “He had always trained hard and today he was great. … Sometimes you bounce back stronger from defeats.”
After Davide Frattesi opened the scoring for Inter and Christian Kabasele equalized for Udinese, Lautaro struck either side of halftime. First, he bundled over the line after missing an initial attempt. Then he finished off a setup from Marcus Thuram to revive the scoring tandem that powered Inter to the title last season.
Lautaro last scored in Serie A in March.
Lorenzo Lucca pulled one back for Udinese late in the second half.
Inter moved level on points with Torino and Milan, one point behind Juventus, which took the lead with a 3-0 win at Genoa. Milan beat Lecce 3-0 on Friday, while Torino hosts Lazio on Sunday.
Later, Bologna was hosting Atalanta.
Juventus win ends run of three straight 0-0s
Dusan Vlahovic scored twice as Juventus ended a run of three consecutive 0-0 draws with a 3-0 win at Genoa – where Juventus coach Thiago Motta began his managerial career.
Juventus has kept six consecutive clean sheets to start the season. One more clean sheet and the Bianconeri will match the record set by Cagliari in 1966.
The match was played without fans as punishment for violence between opposing supporters before and after the midweek Genoa derby.
Vlahovic converted a first-half penalty then took a pass from Teun Koopmeiners to score another from a tight angle.
Francisco Conceicao sealed it for Juve in the 89th by redirecting a cross from Khephren Thuram.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press
