Lautaro Martínez is living through a curious stretch in his career. At 28, the Inter Milan and Argentina forward has piled up trophies, goals and a steady level of play, but he still feels the recognition hasn’t quite matched what he’s delivered. Speaking to France Football right before the 2025 Ballon d’Or ceremony, he admitted as much. He dreams of winning it someday, but confessed there are moments when he feels underrated. And honestly, you can see why.
Over the past year he led Argentina to a second straight Copa América title in the United States, finished as the tournament’s top scorer, carried Inter back to another Champions League final and topped Serie A with 24 goals. Even with all that, the No. 10 ended up well short of the upper spots in the Ballon d’Or vote.
Between the highs and the frustration
The last season showed both sides of the sport. There were the incredible highs — Copa América champion again, leading scorer of the competition, and the face of an Argentina that no longer relies solely on Messi to win. But there were also painful lows: a brutal 5-0 loss to PSG in the Champions League final, missing out on the top three of the 2024 Ballon d’Or, and the nagging sense that, even when he checks all the boxes with numbers and trophies, someone else always steals the spotlight. His seventh-place finish last year was celebrated, sure, but with a touch of disappointment. Seventh isn’t bad, but for a player who combined personal accolades with team success, it felt like there should’ve been room for more.
Lautaro now has four Ballon d’Or nominations to his name. He placed 21st in 2021, 20th in 2023, climbed to seventh in 2024, and once again finds himself among the finalists in 2025. The ceremony in Paris on September 22 at the Théâtre du Châtelet could be another chance to inch closer to that long-awaited prize. But as always, the competition is brutal. After last year’s head-to-head between Rodri and Vini Jr., which ended with the Spaniard winning, Lautaro knows it will take something even bigger to finally break through.
The weight of comparison and the sting of being underrated
Lautaro doesn’t try to hide it: individual awards matter to him. “I aspire to be more recognized. I’m among the five best forwards in the world for what I’ve done in recent years,” he told France Football. The line was honest but carried a hint of frustration too. That might sum up his situation right now. He scores, he leads charts, he wins titles, yet the full acknowledgment never quite arrives.
Passing Diego Maradona on Argentina’s scoring list, for instance, should have made bigger headlines. With his 33rd goal for the national team, he pushed past Diego’s 32 and climbed into the country’s all-time top five. Not every forward reaches that mark in a nation that’s produced icons. Still, the sense lingers that even a milestone like that didn’t shift the way people talk about him. His story doesn’t always seem to carry the same weight with fans or critics, even when the numbers and achievements say it should.