Lautaro Martinez hits hat-trick as Inter Milan swat aside Monaco

Lautaro Martinez scored an early double and made it a hat-trick after the break as Inter Milan breezed past 10-man Monaco 3-0 at San Siro to secure a fourth-placed finish in the Champions League group stage.

The Nerazzurri never looked back after Martinez converted a third-minute penalty before notching again after visiting defender Christian Mawissa had been sent off for a professional foul.

Simone Inzaghi’s men – already through to the knockout stages – were out of sight but Martinez fancied another goal and again broke the resolve of the under-siege Radoslaw Majecki midway through the second half.

Inter were handed an early gift as only three minutes in Denis Zakaria fouled Marcus Thuram in the box to concede a penalty, with Martinez rifling home the spot-kick despite Majecki getting a touch on it.

Denzel Dumfries then missed a chance to make it a rapid-fire 2-0 as he could not put a tap-in away following great work from Federico Dimarco.

The stadium was bouncing but the home fans held their breath when Maghnes Akliouche came knocking in the 10th minute, the young Frenchman fluffing his lines when set up by Takumi Minamino.

Monaco went down to 10 men almost immediately as Mawissa took out Thuram when he was racing through on goal.

Dimarco’s subsequent fine free-kick was clawed out by Majecki but Inter would get their second soon enough as Martinez turned Nicolo Barella’s pass past the Pole.

Monaco were all at sea and Dimarco really should have hit a third when Thuram’s vision found him alone in front of the goalkeeper, but somehow he scooped over.

Inter seemed content to ride out the rest of a fruitful first half by passing the ball around calmly yet there was still enough urgency about them for Dimarco to try his luck with an angled drive.

The principality outfit made two changes at half-time in an attempt to switch things up but the next chance fell to Inter and Thuram, who swept up Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s ball and tested Majecki at his far post. Moments later, Benjamin Pavard volleyed with force at the Monaco keeper after Martinez found the Frenchman in space.

Come the hour mark head coach Inzaghi decided to rest some players with Sunday’s Milan derby in mind and so Alessandro Bastoni, Barella and the effective Thuram were withdrawn for Carlos Augusto, Davide Frattesi and Marko Arnautovic.

The injection of new energy paid off immediately as Mkhitaryan’s 67th-minute sighter was parried by Majecki into the path of Martinez and the Argentinian made no mistake to grab his third goal.

The world champion almost had his fourth of a productive night when connecting with Dumfries’ cross but his shot fizzed inches wide of a post.