There is something almost unfair about Lautaro Martínez. Gasperini knows it, laughed about it to the man's face at full time, and still had no answer for it.
Roma led Inter 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday and still could not win. Martínez scored twice in the second half to rescue a 2-2 draw, extending what La Gazzetta dello Sport report as an unbeaten record across 17 games against teams managed by Gian Piero Gasperini. After the final whistle, Gasperini crossed the pitch, shook Martínez's hand, and told him to stop doing it. Both of them were smiling. It is the kind of thing that is funny when it keeps happening to someone else.
Roma Were the Better Team. It Did Not Matter.
Manu Koné, not exactly your obvious goalscoring threat, put Roma two up inside 37 minutes. His first, a sweeping finish from a Paulo Dybala cross headed down by Nahuel Molina in the sixth minute. His second, arriving at the edge of the six-yard box to convert another Dybala delivery after a touch from Gianluca Mancini, initially ruled out before VAR confirmed no offside. Two goals, both from Dybala service, both finished by a midfielder who had previously managed two in an entire season.
Roma had been the better side and, in the first half, the luckier one too. Martínez missed an open goal from point-blank range. Alessandro Bastoni hit the post. These were warnings that went unheeded.
Less than 60 seconds into the second half, the game changed completely. Martínez released Marcus Thuram down the left, then sprinted into the middle to receive the return. He finished brilliantly into the bottom corner with three defenders around him. Inter were back in it before Roma had drawn breath.
The equaliser came in the 79th minute, and it was built on persistence rather than inspiration. Mile Svilar made a stunning reflex save to deny Thuram's header at a corner, Martínez nodded the rebound onto the bar, and when the chance finally fell to him he put it away.
The Pattern Speaks for Itself
This was the fourth consecutive game in which Inter had gone 2-0 down. They came back to beat Napoli and Udinese this month, and only exceptional goalkeeping from Thibaut Courtois denied them a similar result against Real Madrid in the Champions League. When Inter players were asked why they keep starting so badly, every single one of them said some version of: "I have no idea." Cristian Chivu opened his post-match interview by announcing he would only discuss the second half, because what he had to say about the first was staying in the dressing room.
It is not sustainable. But Inter have Martínez, and that covers over a great many cracks. [Milan's form is starting to recover in Serie A](/uprise/football/pulisic-starts-scores-first-milan-goal-of-26-in-win), but right now the best attacker in the league is wearing Inter blue, and that matters enormously.
Roma, for their part, have a real problem with second-half concentration. All three times they have conceded this season, it has happened within three minutes of the restart. Gasperini, with a nod to Agatha Christie, had said two coincidences were a proof. Three, he acknowledged, meets the threshold properly.
The draw leaves Roma knowing they can compete with the champions. It also leaves them knowing that, at some point, they need to actually beat them.
Gasperini's glass is more than half full after five games. But Martínez is still haunting him, and laughing about it will only get you so far.