Inter Milan vs. Barcelona – What Just Happened? | OneFootball

About last week’s tie between these two I wrote: “This was the purest distillation of world-class football, unleashed from the bottle, poured over ice and savored.”

Ditto.

I have to be trite here, since once again mere words cannot do justice to the 90+ minutes of the regulation play (not to mention the extra-time) that Barcelona and Inter Milan graced the world with today.

For the record, Inter Milan won the game 4 – 3, and advance to the Champions League final 7 -6 on aggregate.

Sublime. Majestic. Bonkers.

I said to Gary Striker as the first half ended that I did not see a way back into this match for Barça. They were down two, the last one coming off a penalty when Pau Cubarsí’s tackle showed him striking Lautaro Martínez’s foot and not the ball in the 43rd minute. Indeed, Barça looked a bit disjointed and out-of-sync. Maybe they were distracted by the hideousness of their away kit, or just feeling the pressure.

I won’t lie, I felt the first half was a bit of a let-down.

But that second half. Oh boy.

It all started with Eric García’s insane volley in the 54th. What a shot! Then three minutes later García found himself with an open net after a breakaway. He took the shot the first time, but out of nowhere the orange-clad Yann Sommer got his hands on it. That stop will surely be one of the Save of the Year candidates.

In the 60th Gerard Martín laced a perfect cross into the box, met by Dani Olmo’s run and his header was a laser even Sommer could not stop. Inter was getting hit by a flurry of body-blows and up against the ropes. Barcelona was a team rejuvenated, tearing their way through Milan’s lines.

It appeared the dagger was buried to the hilt in the 87th minute when Raphinha took a pass on the left side of the box. His sublime touch set up a left-footed rocket. Sommer parried it right back to Raphinha, who this time took it on his right foot and kissed it off the post. That had to be it.

But… no.

But no. Because this is the greatest game in the world and on the biggest stage the drama does. not. end.

In the 92nd minute, Lamine Yamal had a shot hit off the post.

In the 93rd Francesco Acerbi, a 37-year old center back playing with his eleventh Serie A side, took a Denzel Dumfries cross and hit it with a striker’s precision into the upper corner. It was a truly magnificent strike that lifted the San Siro into new levels of insanity.

Extra Time

The goal that sealed it epitomized everything about this game. Luck wasn’t present on this field tonight. There were no deflections, no accidents. Every goal was a masterclass in orchestration, deliberate passing and crisp finishing; every stop a lesson in discipline and pure skill.

When Marcus Thuram received the ball in the box nine minutes into extra time, he showed how hold-up play works. Keeping the ball at his feet, he danced around the defenders before passing to Mehdi Taremi. Taremi deftly offloaded to Davide Frattesi, who froze the defense with a stutter, then struck into the smallest margin of space; such a cool finish.

But the match wasn’t done. Barcelona fought and clawed and struggled right up to the last. Lamine Yamal was sublime in possession. It’s absolutely criminal that someone had to lose tonight. By all rights what we saw over these two fixtures was worthy of a final at any level of competition.

Yann Sommer

When was the last time you saw a goalkeeper win Man of the Match after conceding three goals? You haven’t. THAT’S how good he was.