A decade and a half after their iconic Champions League semifinal, Barcelona and Inter Milan faced off at the same stage of the tournament. The fixture 15 years ago saw Inter come out on top by a 2-1 aggregate scoreline, largely because José Mourinho, who was coaching Inter at the time, comprehensively out-strategized his opposite number Pep Guardiola over both legs in what has since gone down as perhaps Mourinho’s greatest tactical performance ever.
Back in the present day, the result of the first leg has set up a scenario in which the return leg could end up delivering a level of hype and drama to match the 2010 semifinal. The first leg at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys finished in a 3-3 draw.
Despite entering the match as the clear underdog, Inter defied the odds to score the first two goals of the match within 21 minutes; in fact, the first of the two arrived before even one minute of gameplay had elapsed. Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries put Inter in a commanding position early on with both scoring highlight-reel goals; Thuram with a backheel and Dumfries with a scissor kick.
However, Inter eased up too soon and ended up heading into the half-time break on level terms after Barça scored twice before the interval. Three minutes after Dumfries’ goal, Lamine Yamal surged into the penalty area before scoring a spectacular goal of his own, curling it into the net off the Inter far post. Later in the first half, Raphinha set up Ferran Torres who duly took advantage of the opportunity and made it 2-2.
After the break, Dumfries scored his second to put Inter back ahead around midway through the second half; however, this didn’t last as just two minutes later, Raphinha’s shot struck the crossbar before coming off Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer en route to the back of the net.
Despite dominating the match and having the vast majority of the goalscoring chances, Barça weren’t able to come out on top. Should they end up being knocked out of the tournament following the second leg at the San Siro, the Catalan club will undoubtedly rue the many missed opportunities they had throughout the first leg.
One major point of concern which Barça must certainly take note of heading into the second leg is their defense against set pieces. Both of Dumfries’ goals came by way of corner kicks. All season long, Barça haven’t exactly been the best at defending against aerial attacks - and this came back to bite them. Though it has to be said that Dumfries’ first goal was a genuinely excellent finish, the point nonetheless remains that on that goal as well as his second, Barça’s defending was evidently substandard - and Dumfries made the Blaugrana pay for it on both occasions.
In some ways, Barça fell right into Inter’s trap. Simone Inzaghi and his Nerazzurri team knew just how Barça intended to approach this match and set up accordingly. It could be argued that despite what the number of shots attempted and possession statistics might imply, Barça were actually the reactive team while Inter were proactive even if on the surface it might not have appeared as such. This might just end up being a case of history repeating itself - an Inter team without the raw talent that the Barça team they’re facing comes out on top due to having a better gameplan.
Finally, Barça have to get more out of their players not named Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. The wingers are far and away the club’s best players - evidenced by the fact that they could realistically finish first and second in the Ballon d’Or rankings. However, apart from them as well as Torres, Barça’s players simply didn’t rise to the occasion in the first leg. It should go without saying that Barça can’t constantly fall back on their aces to bail them out every time - especially at this late stage of the tournament when every contribution from every player counts.
Having said all of this, there’s still no question that Barcelona remain the obvious favourites not only to advance to the final, but also win it all. Nevertheless, cracks in the armour have become apparent following this match against Inter. Barça were arguably let off the hook in the first leg - another performance like this could see them eliminated from the tournament.
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