Champions League Semifinals, Inter almost achieves feat in Barcelona: 3-3. Injury for Lautaro

Barcelona, ​​April 30, 2025 - Draw and show at Barcelona. Inter still alive. The Nerazzurri held their own against the Liga leaders and played a game with great personality. The final 3-3 tells a lot about the reaction of the Italian champions to three consecutive defeats, keeping open the double challenge of the Champions League semi-final against a great team. Inter did well to take a double advantage at the start with Thuram e Dumfries, two great goals, then the Blaugrana comeback with Yamal e Torres in a stellar first half. In the second half, open spaces on the counterattack, the usual Dumfries to seal the temporary 2-3 immediately regained by Raphinha. Even a pinch of bad luck with the 3-4 potential of Mkhitaryan stopped by a millimetric offside and the muscle injury for Lautaro Martinez which risks depriving Inter of their captain at the end of the season.

One-two Inter, but Barcelona responds

Inzaghi dusts off Thuram, confirming the rumours of the eve, for the rest standard choices with all the starters except Pavard, injured, replaced by Bisseck. For Flick Torres offensive terminal with Yamal and Raphinha in support and Olmo between the lines. The start is all Inter, who takes the lead after just 35” of play. It is precisely the long-awaited and missed striker, that is Thuram, to pierce Szczesny with a prodigious back heel on a cross from Dumfries. The Olimpico is silent. Obviously, Barcelona's reaction is vehement, with ball possession, high counter-attack, intensity. The Blaugrana crush Inter in their own half of the field and try to attack the goal. The first Catalan opportunity is in the 12th minute with Ferran Torres who, found in the area by Lamal, turns right with the ball just wide. Barcelona takes possession of the ball and forces Inter to defend, but also granting spaces on the counterattack where they can hurt. The problem is the Blaugrana pressing that does not allow the guests to move up the pitch with quality and it looks like, as normal, a game of suffering. At 19' another scare, again with Ferran Torres who tries another right-footed shot in the area, following a corner, but with the same result as before. Inter, on the other hand, is relentless in attack. At 21' it is Dumfries to find a winning half-overhead kick on Acerbi's side. Second out-of-this-world goal and Inter ahead by two goals. But Barcelona is Barcelona and above all has a Yamal phenomenal. The young striker, in the 25th minute, skips past three and places a fantastic left-footed shot that kisses the post and ends up in the net: 1-2. A couple of minutes later and Yamal he grazes another one, this time almost from the byline, but Sommer providentially gets a hand on it, sending the ball onto the crossbar. Inter are wavering and in the 36th minute the Swiss goalkeeper also has to save from a right-footed shot by De Jong, triggered by a bad turnover by Bastoni in midfield. It is the prelude to the equaliser, which comes in the 38th minute. Inzaghi's defence is too passive, so Pedri feed the bank of Raphinha which rewards the inclusion of Ferran Torres: 2-2. The troubles don't end, on the contrary. One minute from the end of the first half, Lautaro suffers a muscular problem Martinez, who is forced to abdicate.

Dumfries then Raphinha: it's 3-3

Inzaghi therefore opens the second half with Taremis, called to send a signal of presence after an extremely disappointing season. His team responded present, exactly as at the beginning of the match, with a nice action from below that ended with the cross of Bisseck and the right of Marco's that flies high over the crossbar. But Barcelona quickly gets back in control of the game, always with a high center of gravity and possession of the ball. Inter makes another change in the 55th minute and it's up to Carlos Augusto to give breath to a Dimarco who is not in top form, especially on the side where Yamal is unleashed. Inter still struggles to move up the pitch due to the obsessive pressing of the Blaugrana, which often forces the opponents to rush too much to set up the maneuver and consequently lose balls in abundance. The team of Inzaghi, however, has a winning shot in the 64th minute: corner by Calhanoglu and imperious header by Dumfries on the far post, 2-3. The lead lasts very little, just two minutes. Barcelona's corner play rewards the left-footed shot from the edge of the area Raphinha which knocks both Sommer's hands and the crossbar off their feet, with a bit of luck: 3-3. Flick also changes midway through the second half with Fermin Lopez in place of Dani Olmo to further refresh the attack, while Inzaghi responds with Frattesi in place of the cautioned Calhanoglu. Only in the second half do we notice more stretched teams, with Inter unable to capitalise on two counterattacks by Thuram, also tired, neutralized by Cubarsi first and then Martinez. Inter scores a goal anyway, in the 75th minute, this time developing the counterattack well with Dumfries who finds Mkhitaryan on the far post, but the linesman signals offside and the VAR confirms. The offside is the toe. The match is spectacular in every sense, not only for the result, not only for the emotion, but also for a better Inter in the second half, more constructive on the counterattack and higher in the center of gravity. Two players are overwhelmed, Thuram e Dumfries, and Inzaghi opts for Darmian and Zielinski for the final tight. The guests return to defend in their own half and Barcelona tries to conclude the comeback, but the Blaugrana are a little less energetic than in the first half and the Italian champions seem capable of taming the draw. You can never tell with Yamal on the pitch, in fact at 88' the number nineteen draws an incredible lob that hits the crossbar. At 90' split, instead, he tries Raphinha from the distance: big hand of Summer. It's the last goal opportunity of the match. Inter is still in the game and everything will be at stake in the return leg at San Siro.