Argentina finds the strongest Lautaro in 5 years, the biggest favorite for the Golden Boot! Why is the power tripled?

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2024-06-27 10:22Serie A commentator, Tencent Football Special Writer

While Inter's 12 players are in the knockout rounds of the European Cup, we also need to pay attention to the situation in the Copa America.

Lautaro has become the favourite for the Copa America Golden Boot after scoring in two consecutive games.

A week ago, Lautaro's Golden Boot won the statistic of 8, behind Messi, Vinicius, Alvarez, Nunez and others, and did not rank in the top 5 of the hot list. Now, the stat is 2.75, ahead of Messi (5), Vinicius (6) and "Little Spider" (8), as the top scorer.

In the last 5 national team matches, Lautaro has scored 5 goals, which is the strongest Lautaro (in the Argentine team) in 5 years since 2019.

In 2024, Lautaro made six appearances for Argentina, scoring a total of five goals against Costa Rica, Guatemala, Canada and Chile, and he had an assist against El Saldoba, with five goals and one assist in six games, which is much higher than his performance of eight games, 0 goals and 0 assists in 2023.

The last time Lautaro showed a streak of five goals in five games for the national team was from June to September 2019. After 5 years, after experiencing the adversity ridiculed by the world after the Qatar World Cup, Lautaro began to prove himself with his exploits in Argentina.

Many people ask, what made Lautaro come back in the Argentine team?

Let's take a look at the comments of the major media outlets.

The newspaper Ole lists three reasons. The first is form, Lautaro has endured a season of data blowouts at the club and the form has carried over to the national team. Then there is the coach, even after the slump of the Qatar World Cup, Scaloni still trusts him and is rewarded. The third is the body, Lautaro played in the World Cup with an injury so he was sluggish, and now he is not so troubled.

The reasons listed by Sport, in addition to form, injuries and other issues, also highlighted the role of Inzaghi Jr. and Marotta - in the past season, Inzaghi Jr. changed Lautaro's on-field functions, and these changes have also had a positive impact on Lautaro in the national team. At the same time, Inter Milan basically finalized Lautaro's contract extension before the Copa America, which allowed the Inter captain to focus on the field.

There is some truth to these claims. But personally, there is another key reason that cannot be ignored: one of the key reasons for Lautaro's recent goal explosion in the Argentine team is that he has been reduced to a substitute - and in today's football, Lautaro is a special player who is better than the main player, and is much, much stronger.

In football, "super subs" have always been a good story, such as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Kruse, etc., which still live in the memory of a generation of fans.

Personally, I have always believed that in contemporary football, Lautaro is the top "super substitute", but he spends more time playing the main team.

There is no basis for words, but there is evidence for it.

Look at the club first. Lautaro joined Serie A in July 2018 and so far he has played 206 Serie A games for Inter, totalling 13,961 minutes. Of those, he started 158 games with a total of 12,861 minutes, scoring 89 goals, an average of one goal in 144 minutes. In that same period, he made 48 substitute appearances for a total of 1,100 minutes, scoring 19 goals, an average of one goal in 57.9 minutes.

The same is true for the national team.

Recently, Lautaro has scored five goals in five games, but three of those goals have been scored by coming off the bench, and the three times he came off the bench were in the 71st, 76th and 73rd minutes, and in just a short time, he was able to complete the harvest.

So far, Lautaro has made 60 appearances for Argentina, including 43 starts, for a total of 3,220 minutes, scoring 20 goals, an average of one goal in 161 minutes. In 17 substitute appearances and a total of 330 minutes, he scored six goals, averaging one goal in 55 minutes, and his efficiency increased by about three times.

If one thing has happened in the club and in the national team, it is not three times or five times, but 30 times or 50 times...... Then it must not be a coincidence, but has its inevitable cause and effect. It is not an exaggeration to say: Lautaro is a world-class "bench bandit" who has been delayed as the main force, and his strongest moment is the moment when he comes off the bench.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon.

For example, Lautaro has a good ability to read the game and will study the weaknesses of his opponents when he is on the bench; Lautaro, for example, is a confrontational striker who doesn't have a deep enough fuel tank and often uses too much energy to grapple when he starts the game, and doesn't have the stamina to ensure technical accuracy, while coming off the bench to attack the opponent's defenders who are declining in fitness is not worried.

For another example, Lautaro's longboard is comprehensive (head, left and right feet can shoot), but it is not tall and long-legged, and the technique is not thin enough, the opponent's defense line is full of physical strength when he starts, the fence is tightly fastened, and his ability to smash high balls or dodge and move in people is limited, and the power is almost almost; When the opponent's physical fitness declines when he comes off the bench, he will have more space, so his murderous spirit can be increased several times.

Whatever the reason, Lautaro was more efficient off the bench and took the flag.

Recently in Argentina, Lautaro, who was relegated to the bench, played his best performance in five years, but I don't agree with the voices calling for Lautaro to be the main player. Because playing the main force is not his "best way to open"? It's hard to say.

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