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Key occasions
47 min: A free kick for Inter, simply left of centre, 40 yards out. Barella scoops a diagonal ball in the direction of Thuram, who is well crushed to it by Szczęsny on the right-hand fringe of the six-yard field. No super-fast begin to the half for Inter this time.
Barcelona get the second half began. As anticipated, Inter have been compelled right into a change, their injured captain Lautaro Martínez making method for Mehdi Taremi. Barca in the meantime have swapped out Gerard Martín for Ronald Araújo.
Half-time leisure. To reset one’s equilibrium.
HALF TIME: Barcelona 2-2 Inter
The fastest-ever purpose in a Champions League semi. A spectacular overhead kick. An exquisitely cushioned help. Lamine Yamal. Lamine Yamal. Lamine Yamal. That … that was soccer.
45 min: There might be two extra first-half minutes. Can we not have 22, please?
44 min: Martínez instantly pulls up. He desires to return off, however Simone Inzaghi screams at his captain to proceed. Martinez hobbles round, however stays on for now.
43 min: Raphinha tries to attain with a sidefoot into the underside left from 25 yards. It’s blocked out for a nook, and from the set piece, Lamal practically efficiently one-twos his method down the correct channel and right into a taking pictures place. He’s crowded out simply in time.
42 min: Kounde can’t proceed, and Eric García comes on in his stead.
40 min: Kounde goes down holding his left leg. On comes the coach. The one method the ferocious tempo of this sport could possibly be halted.
GOAL! Barcelona 2-2 Inter (Torres 38)
Yeah, they’ve responded properly all proper. Pedri, in house down the inside-right channel, crosses lengthy in the direction of Raphinha, who cushions a header again throughout purpose and into the trail of Torres, who will get in forward of Acerbi and may’t miss from six yards. Barca are stage! That was so easy but so completely executed. Inter ripped aside with ease.
37 min: … from which nothing comes. However that is gloriously relentless. Barca have responded so properly to the poisonous shock of going two objectives down at residence, briefly order, in a European semi-final. Towards an Italian workforce.
36 min: Yamal wins the ball in the midst of the park with a crunching sort out on Bastoni. This lad can do all of it. Barca break and Olmo goals for the underside proper. Sonner turns across the submit for a nook …
34 min: Yamal once more down the correct. One other cross. Dimarco despatched to the retailers for the Mundo Deportivo this time. Sonner slaps away, simply in time, with Raphinha lurking. That is getting outdated.
33 min: Barella, recognizing Szczęsny wandering round exterior his field, shapes to shoot from the centre circle. He instances all of it unsuitable and takes a fresh-air swipe. He finally ends up wanting a tad preposterous, however full marks for ambition, and to be truthful it feels just like the kind of night when a purpose from the midway line isn’t out of the query. There’s one thing within the air. Such a lovely horizon!
31 min: Yamal is borderline unplayable. He crosses low from the correct, practically teeing up both Torres or Raphinha on the penalty spot. Sommer does exceptionally properly to get down and paw the ball away, although he’s lucky it flies off between the 2 Barca attackers.
30 min: De Jong rolls a move down the inside-right channel to Olmo, who spins on the sting of the field and fights his well beyond Bastoni. He’s clear within the field! However the ball sticks between his ft and although he will get a shot away, it’s weak and straight at Sommer.
28 min: … and chill out. No person’s going to chill out, although, are they?
26 min: Three astonishing objectives in 24 minutes. And it’s practically 4 in 26, as Yamal sends Dimarco off to the closest tapas bar, dribbling into the field from the correct, hitting the byline, chopping again to ship the defender skidding hysterically off the pitch, and lashing a shot throughout Sommer and off the underside of the crossbar! In truth, Sommer acquired a fingertip to that. What a save that was. However what outrageous talent by Yamal.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-2 Inter (Yamal 24)
Oh my goodness, Barcelona want one thing … and oh my goodness, right here it’s! Yamal picks up the ball, dealing with the unsuitable method out on the correct flank. He spins Thuram, drifts elegantly into the field previous Mkhitaryan, opens his physique, and sends a fierce roller in the direction of the highest left. It pings off the upright and in. What a purpose! What a genius! What a match!
23 min: Pedri didn’t fancy competing for that dropping ball. Had he completed so, Dumfries may not have been permitted to high-kick the ball goalwards. However there was no problem, so no hazard.
GOAL! Barcelona 0-2 Inter (Dumfries 21)
Dimarco wins a nook down the left. It’s hit lengthy. Acerbi wins a header ten yards out. The ball drops to Dumfries, six yards out. Dumfries bicycle-kicks sensationally previous Szczęsny and into the left-hand facet of the web! Shock across the Olímpic Lluís Companys!
19 min: Yamal wins one other nook down the correct. Raphinha loops it lengthy. De Jong prepares to go residence on the far stick, however Bisseck flicks away for a nook on the opposite facet. That one’s labored to Torres, on the left-hand nook of the six-yard field. Torres chests down and pearls a shot throughout purpose and inches large of the right-hand submit. Sommer was rooted to the spot.
17 min: Justin Kavanagh wonders: “Isn’t Rule No1 of European soccer By no means Give Up a Purpose within the First 30 Seconds to an Italian Staff within the First Leg? At residence?” Dimarco presents a solution to this query by taking an absolute age over a throw-in, a tactic that registers a full rating of 11 on our patented Mourinho-o-meter™. The house followers not joyful.
15 min: Martin cops a hand within the face from Dumfries, and it is a free kick for Barca out on the left. Raphinha curls it lengthy, nevertheless it’s a simple punch clear for Sommer. That is being performed at 101 miles per hour.
14 min: Bisseck slips and permits Raphinha to skedaddle down the left. A low cross is hooked away by Mkhitaryan, with residence heroes lurking. Neither workforce look significantly assured in defence.
12 min: Torres meets a low cross from the correct and drags his shot inches large proper. So near an equaliser.
11 min: Barella crosses from the correct. Martinez goes up for a header however is crushed by Szczęsny’s punch. Mkhitaryan returns it with a low drive from distance. It flies inches large of the left-hand submit. Had it been heading in the right direction, Szczęsny wasn’t getting there … however Martinez had grazed the ball because it got here via with an tried backflick, and so it’d have been dominated out for offside anyway.
9 min: Yamal bursts down the correct and practically will get the higher of Bastoni, however the defender stands out an arm and eases him out of the highway. Yamal goes over within the field, and also you’ve seen very mushy penalties been given for that kind of problem – however not this time.
8 min: Inter shuttle the ball in the direction of Dumfries out on the correct once more. Dumfries tries to beat Martinez in a footrace, however can’t burn previous his man. Inter clearly fancy their probabilities down this flank.
6 min: Çalhanoğlu and De Jong problem for a dropping ball within the Inter field. De Jong will get there first and goes down, claiming contact and a penalty, however the referee’s not and neither is VAR.
5 min: Torres makes good down the correct and wins the primary nook of the sport. Raphinha can’t beat the primary man along with his supply. Very poor. However it’s been all Barca since that jaw-dropping begin by Inter.
4 min: Yamal responds with a few dribbles down the correct. On the finish of the second, he stands one as much as the far stick, the place Raphinha awaits … however Bisseck is on level to clear. What a begin to this semi-final!
2 min: …. so Inter missed Thuram all proper. What a method for him to interrupt Inter’s three-game goalless streak!
GOAL! Barcelona 0-1 Inter (Thuram 30 sec)
Dumfries barrels down the correct into house. He crosses. Kounde half-clears. Barella picks up possession once more and slips the ball down the correct for Dumfries, who crosses as soon as extra. Martinez slips. Thuram, six yards out and dealing with the unsuitable method, dispatches the ball into the underside left with an audacious back-flick!
Inter get the ball rolling. They’re taking part in in white this night. They usually’re instantly on the assault …
Right here come the groups … and Lamine Yamal, who felt a twinge upon slipping whereas taking a shot within the warm-up, remains to be within the Barcelona line-up. He doesn’t look significantly involved because the Champions League anthem is blasted out, nor when he slaps fingers with the Inter gamers. No Ronaldo-at-the-Stade-de-France-style drama to see right here. We’ll be off in a minute, as soon as everybody pays their respects to Pope Francis.
A giant blow for Barcelona. Lamine Yamal has departed the warm-up, gingerly holding his left thigh and groin. He goes down the tunnel wanting involved. He’s not transferring too awkwardly, however he may not be risked, with the second leg, a attainable last, and a La Liga title-decider towards Actual Madrid all on the horizon.
That 2010 semi-final between José and Barça. “Ah, to return to the times when the worldwide problem uppermost in thoughts was easy methods to appropriately pronounce Eyjafjallajökull,” sighs Grant Tennille, all salad days and nostalgic haze. Properly, sir, the MBM will help you with that.
How Inter acquired right here. The Italian champions completed fourth within the group stage. Their marketing campaign started with a goalless draw at Manchester Metropolis, earlier than chalking up six wins – Purple Star Belgrade (h) 4-0, Younger Boys (a) 1-0, Arsenal (h) 1-0, RB Leipzig (h) 1-0, Sparta Prague (a) 1-0 and Monaco (h) 3-0 – plus a 1-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen. (5 1-0s and a goalless draw! Helenio Herrera would have been delighted with that sequence of scorelines.) Anyway, Feyenoord have been seen off 4-1 on mixture within the spherical of 16, after which it was Bayern Munich within the quarters …
How Barcelona acquired right here. The Catalans got here second within the mega-group, regardless of dropping their first fixture 2-1 away at Monaco. They went on to beat Younger Boys (h) 5-0, Bayern Munich (h) 4-1, Purple Star Belgrade (a) 5-2, Brest (h) 3-0, Borussia Dortmund (a) 3-2 and Benfica (a) 5-4, earlier than lastly drawing 2-2 at residence with Atalanta. Benfica have been dispatched 4-1 on mixture within the spherical of 16, then Barca confronted Dortmund within the quarters, whereupon …
Pre-match leisure. Right here’s Jonathan Liew on the redemption of Raphinha.
Barcelona identify the identical XI that began the Copa del Rey last. Robert Lewandowski stays absent with a muscle harm.
Internazionale have misplaced their final three matches with out scoring, one thing that hasn’t occurred since February 2012, so it’s no shock that they’ve made 5 adjustments to their beginning XI after the 1-0 residence defeat to Roma. Marcus Thuram, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Denzel Dumfries, Alessandro Bastoni and Yann Bisseck step up; Davide Frattesi, Marko Arnautović, Carlos Augusto and Matteo Darmian drop to the bench, whereas Benjamin Pavard misses out after choosing up an ankle harm on the weekend. Inter might be delighted to welcome again Thuram: the striker, who has 17 objectives in all competitions thus far this season, missed all three video games of Inter’s clean run.
The groups
Barcelona: Szczesny, Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Gerard, de Jong, Gonzalez, Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha, Torres.
Subs: Pena, Astralaga, Araujo, Gavi, Fati, Torre, Christensen, Lopez, Victor, Garcia, Fort.
Internazionale: Sommer, Bisseck, Acerbi, Bastoni, Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco, Lautaro Martinez, Thuram.
Subs: Di Gennaro, Josep Martinez, de Vrij, Zielinski, Arnautovic, Frattesi, Asllani, Carlos Augusto, Darmian, Re Cecconi, Zalewski, Taremi.
Referee: Clément Turpin (France).
VAR: Jérôme Brisard (France).
Preamble
Barcelona are at present excessive on life. They’re taking part in some pleasant soccer. They’ve simply gained the Copa del Rey, they’re 4 factors clear in La Liga with 5 matches to go, and the one workforce who can realistically cease them profitable a home double are in no match state, at present preoccupied with the throwing of a season-long tanty. And so it’s not a lot of a leap to recommend the continental treble could be very a lot on. Hansi Flick and Robert Lewandowski have already accomplished one among these, with Bayern Munich in 2020, so Barca are in possession of the roadmap. It truly is on.
Internazionale’s temper is much less buoyant. They haven’t gained in 4, and whereas that sequence began with the 2-2 draw that noticed them squeak previous Bayern Munich within the quarters, they’ve since fallen behind Napoli on the Serie A run-in after back-to-back defeats towards Bologna and Roma, and been spanked 3-0 within the semi-final of the Coppa Italia by their arch rivals Milan. A season that promised a continental treble of their very own is unravelling at tempo. They want one thing tonight.
However all hope for Inter is just not misplaced. As a result of this semi-final conflict might be performed underneath the historic cloud of this …
… so it’s all arrange simply so. It guarantees to be nice enjoyable, a method or one other. Kick-off on the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is at 9pm Barcelona time, 8pm BST. It’s on!
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