Why Barcelona should be wary of Inter’s Nicolo Barella | OneFootball

Nicolo Barella is widely acknowledged as one of the best central midfielders in the world and could be the danger man as Inter take on Barcelona in the second leg of the semi-finals of the Champions League. Barella was good in the first leg but he will need to be on a different level tonight if Inter are to qualify for the final. He will need to lead the Nerazzurri in the difficult midfield battle against the likes of Pedri and Frenkie De Jong. Playing in a midfield alongside Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Hakan Calhanoglou, Barella provides the legs. He ran a ridiculous 11.72km in the first leg, second only to Mkhitaryan in the first leg. This season he has 8 assists, 2 of which have come in the Champions League. Another notable angle about Barella is that he is a monster when it comes to ball progression. Barca will look to be on the attack, and Inter will inevitably recover a lot of balls in and around their own box and will look to play it into Barella to turn it into attack. He is dual threat, averaging 2.36 progressive carries and 7.94 progressive passes a game, both above the 90 percentile among midfielders in Europe. A lot of attention has been on the Barcelona midfielders ahead of the game but Barella could well be taking the laurels post the encounter. Kaulik Mitra | GIFN