Three things we learnt as Barcelona bow out of the Champions League after Inter Milan defeat | OneFootball

FC Barcelona and Inter Milan faced off in the second leg of the Champions League semifinals at the San Siro last night, and it was an absolute classic. Ultimately, the Catalan side ended up on the wrong side of the result, but it was a performance that made everyone proud.

Barcelona found themselves trailing 2-0 at half-time but as they have done so many times this season, the Catalan club found the resilience to make a comeback with goals from Eric Garcia and Dani Olmo in quick succession helping them pull level. Raphinha then thought he had scored the winner minutes from full-time when he found the back of the net to give Flick’s men a 3-2 lead on the night.

Deep into stoppage time though, Inter managed to equalize through a contentious goal. The jury is still out on whether there was a foul on Gerard Martin from Denzel Dumfries in the build up and had that been given, the game might have ended right there. In extra-time, Inter managed to score again to take the lead and Yan Sommer ensured Barcelona didn’t make yet another comeback.

It was a brilliant game of football from two excellent sides and ultimately, you can argue that both teams deserved to go to Munich. Unfortunately, there could be only one winner and that was not Barcelona. With all this in mind, we at Sempre Barca bring to you three things we learned as the Catalan club bowed out of the Champions League after losing 4-3 to Inter Milan.

This is just the start:

When Barcelona lost in Rome, it felt like a one-off debacle. When they followed it up at Anfield, it felt like a slump. In Lisbon the following year, they hit rock bottom. When it happened in Paris the next year, it stopped hurting. It felt like the club was in free fall with no way back.

However, in Milan last night, Barcelona competed. They managed to fight all the odds to make a comeback and take the lead in the tie. The players left their heart and soul on the pitch, despite not having a first-choice XI on the pitch and it showed what Hansi Flick had changed in this team.

Not many teams in the world can even try competing without their first-choice right-back, left-back and striker in the biggest game of their season. However, Flick’s men not only competed but also were so close to booking a plane ticket to Munich.

Unlike all the previous instances though, this feels just like the start of an era at Barcelona which can only keep going in one direction from here on – upwards. In a season where our squad depth is far from ideal, we have managed to come so far and there is no doubt that we will be looking to take it a step further in the upcoming season.

So close… yet… so far:

When Raphinha scored the third goal for Barcelona minutes away from normal time, Barcelona fans would have already started scrambling for tickets to Munich. It was a sensational comeback from the Catalan side and it increasingly felt like this season belonged to the Catalan club.

What hurts the most is that Hansi Flick’s brilliant team were just two minutes away from the final when they threw it away. In hindsight, one wonders if being more defensive and attempting to shut the game out might have worked out but in football, there is no use in the post-mortem once the game is done.

They say – football is a game of fine margins and that is exactly what it turned out to be last night. Unfortunately for Barcelona, every single thing seemed to be going against them last night. What if Lamine Yamal had scored the goal in injury time instead of hitting the post? What if the referee had blown on quite a blatant foul on Gerard Martin? – Well, we’ll never know!

This is the closest Barcelona have come to finding a place in the Champions League final since 2015. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be and there is no doubt that we will return stronger in the next seasons.

Yan Sommer – THE WALL!

Sometimes, when an opposition player has a great game, all you can do is stand up and applaud! Last night, Inter Milan goalkeeper Yan Sommer had one of the games of his career, pulling off save after save and on any other night, he would have at least conceded two more shots against Barcelona.

The veteran goalkeeper seemed to be single-handedly keeping Inter in the tie in the second half and the trend continued well into extra-time. It did not matter what Barcelona tried and how they attempted to beat him, Sommer was up to the task.

Lamine Yamal in particular had a similar experience to what Lionel Messi did when he faced Joe Hart all those years ago. The Spaniard was in some mood last night and had so many brilliant shots on targets only to see all his attempts thwarted by the Inter goalie.

Ultimately, it was one of those games where Sommer played out of his skin and Barcelona got unlucky! It is bound to happen on the biggest stage more often than not and there isn’t much Hansi Flick & co. could have done in this regard. Rightfully, MOTM!