Football News

Here AFP Sport looks at the players who had the biggest impact in Inter's dream season:

Argentina forward Martinez has long been a key man for Inter but since becoming team captain at the start of the season he has shown himself to a be a leader by example. With 23 goals in 29 appearances Martinez has once again improved his Serie A tally after becoming Inter's main centre-forward rather than the foil to a target man.

The 26-year-old has also been crucial to Marcus Thuram settling in so well in his first season as he has borne the weight of leading Inter's attack.

Inter's recent financial problems have led to the club having to shop around for deals and Thuram has been as good an acquisition as anyone could have hoped for the princely sum of a free transfer. The son of World Cup winner Lilian, France forward Thuram returned to the country of his birth from Borussia Moenchengladbach last summer with the unenviable task of plugging the gap left by Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku.

And the 26-year-old has stepped up in a big way, scoring 12 times in Serie A and helping fans digest much more easily the traumatic way Lukaku departed for a second time in three summers.

Turkey captain Calhanoglu proclaimed himself the best midfield playmaker in the world in February, two days after Inter's first-leg win over Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League. His statement was more than a bit hubristic, as was talk in Italy of Inter becoming European champions, but regardless the 30-year-old has been a key cog in a winning machine.

Calhanoglu has flourished in a deep-lying role Inzaghi picked for him after Marcelo Brozovic left for the Saudi Pro League, linking play and upping his goal tally to 13 with three assists.

Another cut-price

Marcelo Brozovic Marcus Thuram