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Champions League: Barcelona come from behind twice in wild first leg draw.
Barcelona and Inter Milan have left everything to be decided at San Siro for a place in the Champions League Final thanks to a wild 3-3 draw in the first leg of the semi-finals at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night. After a nightmare start Barça found themselves down two goals, but managed to come from behind twice to rescue an important draw and stay in the tie ahead of what should be a crazy second leg in Italy next Tuesday.
Read how it went down
FIRST HALF
The game started with an Inter goal: straight from the opening kickoff the Italians played from the back and easily broke the Barça press, finding plenty of space on the right wing where Denzel Dumfries played a cross into the box and Marcus Thuram scored a beautiful backheel goal to put the visitors ahead just 30 seconds into the contest.
The early goal gave the visitors a chance to do what they do best: sit back, absorb pressure, and hit Barça on the counter. They did have some scares as Ferran Torres almost found the net twice in the first 15 minutes, dragging a couple of shots agonizingly wide, but Inter stayed solid at the back and a counter-attack gave them a chance to double their lead: Federico Dimarco sent a corner into the box, Francesco Acerbi won the initial header, and Dumfries scored an acrobatic volley to double the visitors’ lead after just 20 minutes.
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After a nightmare start Barça finally woke up after the second Inter goal, and Lamine Yamal decided to take over: the teenager became unplayable on the right wing, and scored a sensational solo goal to bring Barça back in the contest. He almost scored another ridiculous solo effort but Yan Sommer deflected his shot onto the crossbar, but Yamal got the better of Dimarco time and time again and started to create real trouble for the Inter defense.
The Catalans became a real attacking force in the final 15 minutes, creating multiple chances and forcing Sommer to make a couple of big saves. But the Swiss goalkeeper couldn’t stop them for long: a beautiful pass by Pedri into the box found Raphinha, who headed the ball back into the middle to find Ferran all alone and The Shark passed it home to make it 2-2 and erase the deficit for good.
Then came a very worrying scene: Jules Kounde went down on the pitch and immediately asked for a substitution due to an injury, and Eric García had to replace him at right-back. The halftime whistle came shortly after to end a wild opening period, with four goals, huge chances that somehow didn’t go in, and the promise of even more action in the second half.
SECOND HALF
Hansi Flick made his second substitution at halftime, sending on Ronald Araujo for Gerard Martín and moving Iñigo Martínez to left-back to fortity his backline and add more size and strength to defend the Inter set pieces.
Araujo turned out to be crucial to Barça’s defense early on as Inter were the better side to begin the period, having more of the ball and finding big spaces with passes in behind the Blaugrana’s high line. Araujo had to make some huge interceptions to keep the visitors from creating a big chance, but one of them resulted in a corner which led to Inter’s third goal as Dumfries bullied Dani Olmo in the box and headed home a corner from Hakan Çalhanoglu.
Inter’s joy would last just 60 seconds, however, as Barça equalized immediately on a short corner routine in which Raphinha received the ball at the edge of the box and fired a rocket that hit the cossbar and went back into the net off Sommer’s back, bringing the hosts back into the game with 25 minutes still to go.
The game was blown wide open as both teams began showing signs of fatigue, with very little midfield play and a ton of transition for both sides. Inter almost scored a fourth when Henrikh Mkhitaryan found the net on the counter, but his toe was offside and the goal was disallowed for the narrowest of margins.
Raphinha had a good chance on a free-kick but shot it straight at Sommer, while Inter continued to get in behind the Barça high line but Wojciech Szczesny made some excellent plays as a sweeper keeper to keep his team from conceding a chance.
We arrived at the final 10 minutes with the game very much up for grabs, and Flick made his two final substitutions with Gavi and the returning Andreas Christensen coming on to add fresh legs and more defensive solidity to avoid conceding late.
The Catalans also took control of the possession and completely dominated the final 10 minutes, with Inter keeping all 11 men behind the ball trying to preserve the draw. Yamal hit the crossbar with an attempted cross that almost became a goal, and Raphinha fired another rocket from outside the box that Sommer managed to save this time around, and the Blaugrana could not find a late winner despite their pressure in the dying moments.
The final whistle came to end a wild first leg in the Catalan capital, with everyting to be decided at San Siro. Barça conceded from set pieces twice, allowed Inter to get in behind them several times and might not have Jules Kounde available due to injury, so their defense is definitely a huge concern for the second leg.
But the fighting spirit Barça showed to come from behind twice in this game proves they have what it takes to find a way to win in San Siro next week, and this one is definitely far from over.
