Lautaro Martinez confirms he ‘gave my all to be there’ for Inter in the Coppa Italia semi-final against Milan, but will not even be on the bench.
The first leg of this showdown kicks off at San Siro on Wednesday at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).
With Mehdi Taremi and Denzel Dumfries injured, plus Kristjan Asllani suspended, the Nerazzurri were hoping they could count on their captain and top scorer.
However, after returning from international duty with Argentina carrying a muscular problem, Lautaro Martinez was forced to abandon his hopes of participating in the Derby della Madonnina.
“I gave my all to be there tomorrow evening, but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time,” wrote the striker on his Instagram account.
“The season is long and we have many objectives. We’ll see each other soon on the pitch.”
Coach Simone Inzaghi tested out a new partnership of Joaquin Correa and Marcus Thuram in training, and they are expected to start upfront tomorrow night.
Lautaro Martinez did not want to risk doing any further damage with the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich coming up next week.
