The team that advances between Barcelona and Inter Milan will face the winner of Arsenal and PSG in the Champions League final.
In a great match with twists and turns, Barcelona drew with Inter Milan, 3-3, this Wednesday (4/30), in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal, at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium. The return leg will be played at the Italian team’s home, San Siro, next Tuesday (5/6). Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Yan Sommer (own goal) scored for Barça, while Inter Milan’s goals were scored by Marcos Thuram and Dumfries (2).
Even before the match, an image worried Barcelona fans. During the warm-up, forward Lamine Yamal put his hand to his left thigh and gave the impression that he was feeling pain in the region. Despite this, the number 19 The team that qualifies will face the winner of Arsenal and PSG in the Champions League final. In the first leg, the French team won 1-0 and opened up an advantage. The return leg will be played next Wednesday (7/5), in Paris.
The game started off lively. Inter took advantage of Barcelona’s low defense to launch a quick attack and open the scoring just before the first minute. Dumfries crossed from the right, and the home team’s defender Iñigo Martínez slipped, opening space for Marcos Thuram, who backheeled a great goal and made it 1-0 for the Italians. Then, both teams started to create chances, setting up a close match. In the 21st minute, Dimarco took a corner kick, and the ball reached defender Acerbi with precision, who passed it to Dumfries who volleyed it and extended the score to 2-0 – another great goal for Inter.
Barcelona, however, did not give up, continued to play the game and managed to reduce the deficit after three minutes. Lamine Yamal made a great play on the right, entered the area and finished with a shot into the right corner of goalkeeper Yan Sommer’s goal – another great goal, which made it 2-1. Hansi Flick’s team began to completely dominate Inter, surrounding the opponent’s area and creating chances. Sommer made some good saves, but was unable to prevent Barcelona from equalizing, which came in the 38th minute. Pedri passed the ball to Raphinha, who headed it into the area for Ferran Torres, who scored the goal.
Inter came back stronger after the break, and the match began to take a more balanced course. Thus, 18 minutes into the second half, the visitors regained the lead with another goal from a corner. Çalhanoglu crossed, Szczęsny came out of goal badly and Dumfries scored again: 3-2. Once again, Barça was quick to react and relied on the individual brilliance of its star-studded squad to equalize from another corner kick. Dani Olmo took a low shot towards the edge of the area, Yamal made a cutback and Raphinha made a beautiful first-time finish that hit the underside of the crossbar. The ball rebounded off Sommer and ended up in the back of the net: 3-3. In the final stretch, the teams slowed down, but Barcelona continued to dominate the action, while Inter just defended themselves. Barça managed to get a few shots on target, but were unable to turn the game around.
