Lautaro Martinez's first-half strike sealed a 1-0 win for Inter over Sparta Prague in the Champions League on Wednesday, keeping them on course for a top-eight spot. 

The visitors bounced back from their defeat to Bayer Leverkusen last time out in the competition, moving up to fourth in the table.

Martinez volleyed home at the back post from the tightest of angles in the 12th minute, connecting with Alessandro Bastoni's cross. The ball bounced up and in off the underside of the crossbar, giving Peter Vindahl no chance.

The home side, who are now out of contention for a play-offs place, offered little in the way of a goal threat, falling to a fifth consecutive defeat in the competition.

Despite Sparta's second-half improvement, they almost fell to a larger defeat as Denzel Dumfries neatly tucked the ball into the back of the net, only for it to be disallowed for offside following a VAR review.

After keeping a sixth clean sheet in the competition, Inter can have confidence going into their final fixture, where they can seal their automatic round of 16 place at home to Monaco next week.

Prague conquered
The three points are ours #ForzaInter #UCL #SpartaPragaInter pic.twitter.com/j2CXKWtO2I

— Inter (@Inter_en) January 22, 2025

Data Debrief: Martinez to the rescue

Inter were not quite at their best in the final third on Wednesday, but they did enough to get the three points on the board.

They managed just 0.87 expected goals against Sparta from 12 shots, with Martinez responsible for 0.37 of that. He also had the most shots (four) and shots on target (three) of any player on the pitch. 

It was an important milestone for Martinez though, as he netted for the 14th time in the competition - he is now Inter's joint-best goalscorer in the Champions League, level with Adriano.

This is the fifth consecutive Champions League game that Inter have played that has finished 1-0 (W4 D1). Only two other teams in the history of the competition have ever endured the same such run (Juventus in 2004-05 - W5 and Maccabi Haifa in 2009-10 - L5).