Lautaro Martinez nets winner as Inter Milan beat Sparta Prague

Lautaro Martinez continued his rich form in front of goal by firing the winner as Inter Milan beat Sparta Prague 1-0 to move to the brink of automatic qualification for the Champions League last 16.

Martinez struck for the fifth time in seven games and it was enough to propel the Serie A title contenders to a routine victory at epet ARENA that lifted them to fourth in the table.

The only mystery was how Inter, who posses the competition’s meanest defence, failed to add at least one more goal given their dominance of the fixture.

They looked comfortable from the start and it took just 11 minutes for them to strike with Martinez tucking home Alessandro Bastoni’s cross with a beautifully taken shot from a tight angle at the far post.

Sparta’s winter break meant they were playing their first match since mid-December and the rust showed as they struggled to gain any possession, although as the half-hour mark passed they were starting to see more of the ball.

Their first meaningful attack almost produced an equaliser but keeper Yann Sommer made a fine save after Veljko Birmancevic expertly controlled a cross by Lukas Sadilek and produced a solid shot.

Kristjan Asllani should have done better with a great chance but he drove his shot over the crossbar despite having time and space.

Federico Dimarco threatened with a dynamic run early in the second half but he eventually ran out of space and then Marcus Thuram made a similarly promising break only to fail to get his shot off.

Birmancevic forced Sommer into action in a sign that Inter could not afford to lose concentration before the visitors missed a glorious chance to add their second.

Nicolo Barella led a counter-attack and although he teed up Martinez, the Argentina striker fired a tame effort straight at keeper Peter Vindahl Jensen.

Denzel Dumfries did get the ball in the net in the 62nd minute but after a lengthy VAR check it was ruled out for offside.

Thuram was the next to go close as pressure built on the home goal, Dimarco blasted over and then Martinez hit Jensen’s gloves for the second time.

Inter had to show their mettle in defence as Sparta mounted a rare attack, but the one-way traffic resumed with Thuram the next to test the Czech side.

There was little coming back from the hosts, whose own distant hopes of qualification for the knockout phase had faded with Martinez’s early winner, and Inter closed out the victory.