Copa America Winner Lautaro Martinez Emerges as a Frontrunner For Ballon d’Or: Report – News18
Argentina’s Lautaro Martínez celebrates scoring his side’s opening goal against Colombia during the Copa America final soccer match in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The article by L’Equipe went on to suggest that, according to L’Equipe, Martinez will vie for the award, along with Manchester City’s Euro 2024-winning midfielder Rodri and the Real Madrid duo of Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham.
Lautaro Martinez capped off his sensational Copa America run having lifted the trophy for Argentina.
The Argentine international had a stellar Copa America 2024 campaign where he won the Golden Boot award having emerged as the highest goal scorer (5 goals). The Inter Milan striker had scored the solitary goal of the Copa America final against Colombia.
It is now being reported that Martinez could very well be in contention for the Ballon d’Or award. An article published by FC Inter News claimed that Martinez will be a frontrunner to win the prestigious individual award.
The article went on to suggest that, according to L’Equipe, Martinez will vie for the award, along with Manchester City’s Euro 2024-winning midfielder Rodri and the Real Madrid duo of Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham.
A post shared by Centre Goals on X (formerly Twitter) also predicted Lautaro Martinez as one of the four favourites to win the next Ballon d’Or award.
| NEW: Lautaro Martínez will be one of the four favourites to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or. He will compete for victory with Rodri, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham.[@lequipe] pic.twitter.com/BA3Qb9SJKZ
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) July 16, 2024
At the club level, Lautaro Martinez had a spectacular campaign for Inter Milan last season. In 44 matches, the 26-year-old registered 27 goals and three assists for Nerazzurri across all competitions in the 2023-24 season.
The Inter Milan captain was named the most valuable player (MVP) of the season. Martinez also became the Serie A 2023-24 highest goalscorer. Martinez netted 24 goals in Inter Milan’s Serie A-winning campaign last season. His tally was eight more than Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic who was second on the list of highest goalscorers of Serie A 2023-24.
Inter Milan claimed their 20th Serie A by beating arch-rivals AC Milan 2-1. “I feel like crying because we worked so hard, we deserve this joy. It’s been wonderful but we have to keep going because we’ve already won a lot of trophies and we want to win many more,” Inter Milan captain Lautaro Martinez had said back then, as per BBC.
At the Copa America 2024, Lautaro Martinez scored a vital goal in the 112th minute of the final against Colombia to guide his side to the title. It was Argentina’s 16th Copa America triumph.
