Inzaghi reveals the Barça player that “impressed me a lot” – and it’s NOT Lamine Yamal | OneFootball

Inter’s Simone Inzaghi congratulated Barcelona for an impressive performance across both legs of their UEFA Champions League semi-final, which saw the Nerazzurri progress to face either Arsenal or PSG in the final later this month.

Davide Frattesi scored the winner for Inter Milan in the first half of extra time, after the sides had contested yet another 3-3 draw in front of more than 75,000 fans at the San Siro.

“Congratulations must be given to Barcelona,” Inzaghi insisted post-match, highlighting that the Nerazzurri came up against “a really strong team, and it took a super Inter team [to beat them].”

Lamine Yamal had been billed as the star of the Barça team and the player who was likeliest to crush Inter Milan’s hopes of qualifying for the final – but Inzaghi opted to single out another of Hansi Flick’s players as “amazing”.

“I saw another amazing player apart from Yamal in these games: [Frenkie] de Jong. He impressed me a lot, he was always helping the defence to come forward. I wouldn’t change [my players] for any reason in the world, but I saw very strong players [in the Barcelona side].”

Having played out a six-goal thriller at Montjuïc a week ago, Inzaghi revealed his thought process and the reasonings behind the changes he made for Tuesday’s decisive second leg.

“I put in changes that helped us to believe and limit a team like Barcelona,” he revealed, “and with heart, we went beyond all obstacles. We tried to play with our strengths. After the first game, we were clear about all the things we had to do on the pitch but without the sacrifice and the help of everyone involved, it wouldn’t have been like this. They were great, they deserve this final.”

Inzaghi continued: “An evening like this, shared with our fans who have always supported us, is incredible. There has always been great unity. Now we will have to be good and get to the final in the best possible way knowing that we have to finish a championship where we are fighting [for the title].”

“Tomorrow I’ll let the boys [have a day] off because it’s been a long time since they had a day off, then there will be Torino, Lazio, Como and then we will go to Munich to play this final,” 49-year-old Inzaghi explained.