With a black eye Joshua Kimmich had finished the Champions League task in Milan – and at the same time unnerved Inter striker Lautaro Martinez. The Argentine even caused an aftermath.
One thing up front: Joshua Kimmich got his black eye on Wednesday in the 2-0 win over Inter Milan in an unfortunate collision with teammate Marcel Sabitzer. Nothing serious, however, from his point of view. On his way to the bus, the German international called out to waiting journalists: “I’m fine. I’ll be fit again by Saturday.” So nothing stands in the way of his playing against the still winless VfB Stuttgart.
The importance of Kimmich for the game of the German record champion is well known – and was also shown in San Siro: The set-up man once again presented himself as intelligent in the game, distributed balls and found goal scorer Leroy Sané for the important 1:0 with a wonderful as for him long typical stroked ball into the back of the Italian defence.
It even led to a Twitter comment from Bastian Schweinsteiger. “Nice that word hasn’t spread to Milan that Kimmich can play balls like that behind the defence when he’s free,” wrote the 2014 World Cup winner.
Lautaro is difficult to hold back
In addition, Kimmich clashed with striker Lautaro Martinez a few times that evening – minor shoving and intense duels included. When the Bayern player won a tense duel with the Argentine in the second half, Kimmich also shouted something at his opponent from a short distance.
Whether that was the cause of rising anger after the end of the game? Not clear to say. But one thing was certain: Lautaro still had a bone to pick with Kimmich. Shortly after the end of the game, when the players had long since shaken hands, the Argentine strode towards the Munich midfielder and even pushed the experienced referee Clement Turpin aside. Afterwards, Lautaro rubbed his head against Kimmich’s forehead, said a few harsh words and had a hard time calming down the referee, the intervening Thomas Müller or even his own teammates like Nicolo Barella in the following seconds. There were no consequences.
