Marco Delvecchio has come down on the side of Lautaro Martinez over Donyell Malen ahead of Inter’s trip to face Roma, judging the Nerazzurri captain the more complete and more consistently elite forward.
According to TuttoMercatoWeb, the former Roma striker was speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport and broke the pair down category by category before settling on Lautaro, whom he calls the Toro of Bahia Blanca and rates as sharper at a higher level for longer, including on the international stage.
Delvecchio does not simply hand Lautaro the crown, though. Malen, in outstanding form since January, actually gets the better marks in two key areas of the assessment.
Lautaro wins on the physical side of the game
Delvecchio hands the ex-Aston Villa man a 9 for finishing and for technique, with Lautaro rated only an 8 in both of those categories. The gap closes when the conversation turns physical.
Lautaro comes out on top in the aerial duel and in his work with his back to goal, with Malen managing just an 8 and a 7 respectively in those two areas. It is that generosity and physicality, Delvecchio argues, that ultimately tips the balance the Nerazzurri captain’s way.
Delvecchio himself won a Scudetto with Roma, and he frames this weekend’s meeting as a genuine head-to-head between the two forwards. The Olimpico is Malen’s home ground, and the source notes he will want to leave his mark against the reigning champions, who were not punished in a 5-2 defeat at San Siro last season.
With Hakan Calhanoglu’s fitness already a talking point in Inter’s build-up, the Lautaro-Malen duel adds another layer of intrigue to a fixture both sides will want to win.
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