Inter battled head-to-head with Barcelona in the first leg of a Champions League semifinal on Wednesday night and came away with a 3-3 tie. The Italian team will be happy to travel back to Milan for the second leg on Tuesday.
In actuality, Inter surprised the hosts with a goal that was both spectacular and expected. As instructed, it played four of its first five passes backward from kickoff, luring all ten Barca outfield players into their offensive half and having them pursue the ball.
Inter then went long on the sixth pass. A header was won by Lautaro MartÃnez. Inter quickly took control as Marcus Thuram grabbed it and transferred the ball to Nicolò Barella, evading Barca’s hungry rush. Iñigo MartÃnez was wrong-footed by a second cross after Barca’s Jules Kounde cleared the first one. Thuram hit it into the goal with a backflict. And Inter was up in 30 seconds before Barca could even touch the ball.
However, twenty minutes later, Denzel Dumfries unexpectedly doubled Inter’s advantage from a corner.
He drove at Henrikh Mkhitaryan after defeating Thuram in a physical confrontation three minutes later. Like a Porsche speeding past a traffic cone, he slid past the overmatched Inter midfielder and curled a precise shot in off the far post.
For the most of the first half, Yamal harassed Inter’s left flank. He twisted and sat Federico Dimarco down a few minutes after his score, then fizzed a tight-angle shot toward goal after a stepover and cut. Yann Sommer, the goalie for Inter, just managed to keep it off the net by tipping it into the crossbar.
Yamal also clipped in teasing crosses, with all parts of his left foot. He caressed dangerous passes toward and into the penalty box. He drew double-teams, and either beat them or passed out of them to open teammates. He brought fans to the edge of their seats, and proved why, even at 17 years old, he might already be the best soccer player in the world.
But it was Barca’s other superstars who brought the Blaugrana all the way back into the game.
In the 38th minute, Pedri, Barca’s playmaker extraordinaire, picked out Raphinha with a lovely cross to the back post. Raphinha nodded it into the path of Ferran Torres — who had darted toward goal as if he were Robert Lewandowski, the injured striker he’s replacing. Torres finished, and Barca was level.
In the 63rd minute, Dumfries stunned them once again. He posterized Dani Olmo on a corner, and scored his second of the night. Inter, against the run of
play, went ahead.
But two minutes later, Barca answered. Olmo played a corner to the top of the box; Yamal dummied it; and Raphinha rocketed a 30-yard shot off the crossbar, onto the back of a diving Sommer, and in.
And this roller coaster of a game sped on. Over the final 25 minutes, Yamal again hit the crossbar. Inter threatened on the counter. Mkhitaryan scored, but he was offside by the length of a big toe.
So it ended 3-3, with all to play for in the second leg on Tuesday at the San Siro.
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