Inter Milan Captain Predicts Copa America Final Will Be ‘A Real Argentine Battle’ | OneFootball

Inter Milan captain Lautaro Martinez is anticipating that the Copa America final against Colombia or Uruguay will be a “real Argentine battle.”

The 26-year-old spoke to Fox Sports Argentina, via FCInterNews, after the Albiceleste booked their place in the Copa America final with a 2-0 win over Canada.

Argentina will be in the final of a third successive international tournament.

The Albiceleste won the Copa America in 2021. Then, in 2022, they won the World Cup in Qatar.

Therefore, it was perhaps inevitable that Argentine had gone into this summer’s Copa America as favourites.

And the favourites have lived up to the billing.

In the group stage, Argentina enjoyed a perfect record. They beat all of Canada, Chile, and Peru.

Then, against Ecuador in the quarterfinals, the Albiceleste required penalties to go through to the next round.

Yesterday evening, Argentina took on Canada in the semifinals. This was the same team that they had beaten in the opening match of the tournament.

And the Albiceleste won the match by the same scoreline that they had triumphed in their group stage opener.

Lautaro Martinez: Copa America Final Will Be A “Real Argentine Battle”

Now, it is up to Argentina to wait and see who their opposition will be in the final.

This evening, Colombia and Uruguay face off in the second semifinal.

Whoever the Albiceleste face on Sunday, it will certainly be a tough match for them. Both Colombia and Uruguay have displayed impressive form at the tournament.

But in all their matches so far, that has been the case for Argentine.

Both matches against Canada required top performances from the Albiceleste. As did their late victory over Chile.

And perhaps the penalty shootout triumph over Ecuador had been toughest of all.

“I’m happy because we got to yet another final in a short space of time,” Martinez said of Argentine’s third straight final appearance.

He predicted that “It’s the last match. You know how these matches go.”

“It will be one final battle,” Martinez said. “And we’ll face it as real Argentinians.”