It seemed impossible to go beyond the first stage of the semi-final of the Champions League between Internazionale and Barcelona, a beautiful concerto of impossible goals and individual celebrity. And yet, the two clubs, fighting wildly for a place in the final, left Tuesday at San Siro and not only exceeded it, but sent the whole tie to the tradition of the tournament. Seven goals in 120 minutes, not announced stopgaps that enter under the spotlight, another magnificent goalkeeper display, a central back marking the objective of his life … The second step had everything and more, and it was only at a moment of nervous excellence of the Davide d’A Inter final, most of the missed opportunities.
Where to start? The second floor did not burst into action as quickly as the first, although to be fair, few matches start with a 30 -second goal. But these two teams are such a perfect contrast of styles that he could not remain silent for too long. Barcelona dominated possession as usual, but each time the Blaugrana Make an error, the deadly counterattack of Inter was going to withdraw immediately. As soon as the initial process of the feeling of exit ended, the match took place in the races.
Lautaro Martínez won the first time, capitalizing on one of these errors in Barcelona. Dani Olmo was too relaxed with the ball in his own half, allowing Federico Dimarco to strip him and then place a revolutionary ball too easy to the first stage hero Denzel Dumfries, who struck a reduction from Martínez, offering the Argentinian an open goal to shoot:
Just before half-time, Inter reproduced its advantage of the first step, with useful help from Var. During his real -time stay, Pau Cubarsí seemed to have made a hell of an economic tackle on Martínez inside the box, the video replay revealed that the defender of Barcelona went through the foot of Martínez, leading to a penalty and a goal from Hakan Calhanoglu:
I’m going to direct it now: despite the Barcelona newspapers complaining about arbitration, it was especially quite good. The Var call for the penalty was correct, and if anything, Barcelona fled with a few moments thanks to the reference. Referee Szymon Marciniak (and the Var) missed Iñigo Martínez seeming to spit on Francesco Acerbi during the post-penalty scrum, and Marciniak also whistled on a promising inter-competition in an additional time. This is good news for high adrenaline football fans, because this match deserved such a clean scene for his show, and that’s mainly what he got.
The great thing about Inter Groving 2-0 is that it had never had the impression that the tie was over, and it has a lot to do with the passion of this Barcelona team for the goals. Visitors immediately started going back to the other side of half-time. This only made nine minutes, and the not announced stops above all for the goals flock to the side dressed in a grilled crimoral green. With injuries to Alejandro Balde (outside since the beginning of April) and Jules Koundé (who suffered an injury to the hamstrings in the first leg), Gerard Martín and Eric García were immersed in full roles, a massive demotion of two of the most important players in Barcelona.
Nevertheless, these two have combined for a spectacular objective by Barcelona to bring them back in the match. After having smothered two initial passes more deeply in the box, the ball fell in Martín, who launched a ball through the region, apparently too hard for the attackers in front of the goal. However, the balloon floated just far enough to allow García to run and hit a feather side kick that sailed in the distant post, far from the magnetic hands of Yann Sommer:
Martín and García have almost combined for another incredible goal, thanks to a razor counterattack, two minutes later. But García proved why he was a return center by training when, from a very like Martínez situation on the game’s opening match, he pulled directly to Sommer. García’s goal and his almost loot have shown that the momentum had been completely balanced in the direction of Barça, and Martín would help put his team back on the match sheet a little later. In the 60th minute, after Barcelona recycled the possession of a free kick, Frenkie de Jong gave the ball to the young left rear, which wrapped a cross in front of everyone, except for an Olmo who went bankrupt in the net, leaving him again with little chances.
Speaking of Sommer: the Swiss goalkeeper was the greatest reason why this equality was not a rout. He would continue to play in the additional time on Wednesday match, and I will get there, but he was also called to action several times in regulation. The backup above on García did not ask for anything spectacular, but its complete denial of the 77th minute of a Yamal laser in Lamine certainly made:
If Sommer made a mistake in the second step, it’s almost the one that cost everything. In the 87th minute, Raphinha, especially silent during the day, received the ball on the left side of the box with just enough space to put itself on its stronger foot and pull, although directly to summarize. It is rough to describe them as “error” of the guardian, but instead of hitting the ball away from the goal, he could only put his hands to repel him, directly in Raphinha, who shot the post distant from the rebound giving to Barcelona, in the minute 177 of this equality, his first aggregation advance.
Even if the second stage had ended there, it would already be one of the biggest confrontations with two legs in the history of the European Cup, but there were several twists and turns in this tale. If Barcelona only returned because of the association of the improbable side back, it was forced to go out, then Inter only survived because of the most improbable of scorers who choose exactly the right time to mark an absolute banger. At the bottom of the downtime, Inter played a long ball which fell, it seemed, in complete safety in Martín, which should have erased it in the stands. Instead, he tried to control the ball under the pressure of the much larger dumfries, who were able to leave with and hit a roller of a cross in the box, where Acerbi in the center, of all people, was waiting to score his first goal of the season.
More time then beckoned, as it was perhaps always intended for this tie. Unlike most state -time competitions, where it seems that a goal will decide, I felt at least that it was several moments of magic on the cards. I may have been deceived by the way this leg had taken place, but that does not mean that it was disappointing that the next objective in fact decided at the end. Because what objective it was. Marcus Thuram apparently removed half of Barcelona’s defense long enough to pass a pass in Mehdi Taremi, who had his back on goal with Cubarsí by posting him. Iranian has spotted Frattesi in space a few meters away and dropped off the ball, and the Italian did the rest, taking two stacks to win the Cubarsís just long enough to create the breathing room he needed to strike in the distant net, giving between the fourth and last advance of equality:
(Asked after Thierry Henry’s match on the reasons why he chose to miss the blow at that time, Frattesi broke out his skills wonderfully and wonderfully colorful to answer that he “thought that if I do not score, I am fucked.”)
Even after this late objective, he was not arrested in the attack on Barcelona, and given what he had shown before this moment, there was no reason to doubt that an equalizer could materialize. However, in the umpteenth head to face to face between Lamine and Sommer, the goalkeeper came out in mind again. In the 114th minute, the Starboy of Barcelona struck a shield that had the back of the net as the only destination, if not for the fingers of the Swiss goalkeeper, who was the man of the match. (It is not often a goalkeeper gets this honor after abandoning three goals, but Sommer was almost impeccable on Tuesday and in the first leg, marking 14 stops on the two games.)
It would not be Barcelona’s last chance, but it may have been her best. Lamine targeted summoning a few moments later, but the backup was much more routine. Finally, the weather has simply exhausted for Barcelona.
With the victory, the Inter will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in the final with a chance to win the fourth European Cup of the club, while Barcelona will have a quick turnaround before a Clásico Against Real Madrid with serious Liga implications. (This is probably a good thing that the match during the weekend is so important for the rest of the Barcelona season, because I do not know how the team could have risen for a regular championship match after this exhausting defeat.)
Everything that happens from now on should not be cloudy what these two clubs have provided for a week. I’m going to look at the bias in the face and say that, through both legs, it was the best semi-final of the Champions League that I have ever seen, and it was probably the best bond of two legs of the competition in my life. There may have been crazy individual games in this tournament in recent years-Barcelona’s own 6-1 raised Against PSG in 2017, or the 4-0 return of Liverpool against, Uh, Barcelona in 2019 – but Inter and Barça were so much so radically different that I can not help thinking that it is club football to its best. The tactical confrontation was magnificent, and the two managers have fulfilled commendable bravery in the face of gargantuan homologous challenges. The star players delivered at one time or another, while new heroes have emerged in the most unlikely places. Sommer delivered a goalkeeper performance for ages. There is so much more than I could say about this tie, but at the end of the day, Inter survived through a pure determination and a brilliant cunning of Frattes, and damn if it was not exciting to look.
