Barcelona and Inter Milan trade blows in heavyweight clash | OneFootball

Barcelona and Inter Milan have put on a show, producing a 3-3 thriller in the opening leg of the semi-final tie at Camp Nou, scoring six goals from a total of 2.3 xG (1.39 for Barcelona and 0.91 for Inter Milan).

Simone Inzaghi’s side had the dream start, taking a 2-0 lead after just 21 minutes on the clock with Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries showing their class. However, Hansi Flick’s side fought their way back into the game through the brilliance of Lamine Yamal and the relentless nature of their attacking ideas.

Barcelona held 72% possession, squeezing Inter Milan inside their own half, taking 19 shots and getting nine of them on target. Despite going 2-0 down, Flick’s side didn’t even flinch in their approach, keeping the fullbacks high, making relentless runs across the front line and leaving a 2v2 at the back when the ball did break.

For Inter Milan’s opening goal, we saw Lautaro Martinez win a flick on, dropping from the front two and glancing it into Marcus Thuram’s feet who could then flick the ball on to Barella to play out to Dumfries bombing on down the right flank.

This pattern of play led to Inter Milan’s first chance of the game, putting the ball in the box and keeping things alive long enough to conjure up a chance for Thuram who provided a real moment of class, applying a clever finish from a Dumfries cross.

Both Thuram and Dumfries were key to Inzaghi’s game plan to attack Barcelona’s left side of defence on the break, but after taking a 2-0 lead, the 17-year-old sensation took matters into his own hands, grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.

Lamine Yamal played his 100th game for Barcelona at just 17-years-old, marking the appearance with a goal and a performance far beyond his years. Simone Inzaghi has come out to say “I haven’t seen a player like Lamine Yamal in the last eight or nine years” before admitting ” we had to put three players on him!”.

Barcelona were building their attacks through the young sensation, getting the ball into him out wide which attracted multiple players towards him (az Inzaghi hinted at), allowing for spaces to open up elsewhere for Yamal to exploit.

To put his impact in to perspective, the controlling midfield players such as Pedri and De Jong had 107 & 112 touches each, with Yamal’s 102 touches being the third highest of any player in the match!

Yamal’s variation in his actions made him a threat all night long, completing six of his ten dribbles, swinging crosses into the box with a multitude of techniques and accessing angles for passes that only others could dream of.

Inter Milan will come away from this game fairly happy despite conceding three goals and losing a two goal lead, taking a draw back to the San Siro will be an appealing state for Inzaghi and his side.

Denzel Dumfries was the key for Inter Milan, breaking from deep to support the front two, arriving in the final third and producing the moments of quality in the game with his two goals and one assist.

If Alejandro Balde is still unavailable for the second-leg of this tie, Dumfries could have the same impact in the reverse fixture, arriving in the final third and being Inter Milan’s biggest attacking threat, looking to exploit the space left in the flanks by Barcelona’s aggressive fullbacks and highline.

Either way, the second-leg everything is to play for and after tonight’s thriller, many will be hoping next week’s game can live up to those heights once more!