Inter Milan and Barcelona played out one of the best ever Champions League semi-finals, with the Italian giants eventually securing a 7-6 win on aggregate over Hansi Flick’s side
Alan Shearer hailed both Inter Milan and Barcelona for playing their part in a classic Champions League semi-final. After a thrilling 3-3 draw in the first leg in Catalonia, Barca travelled to the San Siro for the reverse fixture on Wednesday night.
Lautaro Martinez put Inter ahead after 21 minutes, before Hakan Calhanoglu scored from the penalty spot to put Inter 5-3 ahead on aggregate. But Eric Garcia volleyed in to pull Barca back into the game soon after half-time.
Dani Olmo headed in an equaliser on the hour mark before Raphinha fired in with just three minutes to go to swing the tie in Barca’s favour. But in the third minute of added time, centre-back Francesco Acerbi smashed in a remarkable from close range.
That goal sent the game into extra-time and with nine minutes gone, substitute Davide Frattesi won it for the Italian giants, when he curled a beautiful left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Inter keeper Yann Sommer was still forced to pull off a series of remarkable saves to keep his side ahead. But they have now reached their second Champions League final in three years, with Shearer left speechless.
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“Thank you Inter Milan and thank you Barcelona for providing us with incredible entertainment and two great football matches. What we have witnessed has been something very special,” he said in commentary for Amazon Prime.
“The resilience has been brilliant from Inter. They were out of this competition. All of a sudden they fight themselves back into the game and Davide Frattesi slots that ball into the far corner.”
Inter star Denzel Dumfries admitted to being left breathless by the all-time classic but was delighted his side have booked their place in the Munich final. He told Prime: “Crazy match, again. Seven goals today.
“It was incredible, we fought until the end, but very proud of the way we fought today. Overall, very happy that we’re going to the final. I am very happy to help the team. I come back from injury so it was not easy.
“We have to fight every match for the colours of the club. Two years ago we lost the final – we know everything is possible. This year we fight and we have objectives. Tomorrow we will see what team we have in the final.”
Barca boss Hansi Flick conceded he was left heartbroken his side had been dumped out, though hailed their performance. The German said: “I’m very disappointed that we’re out – but I’m not disappointed about the performance of my team. They tried everything.
“We’re out, but next year we’ll start again and we’ll make our fans, the club and everyone around us happy. They [Inter] are a really good team, a strong team who defend well but also they have a really good striker.
“In the second half we were really good. I don’t want to speak about the referee but every 50/50 decision was for them. We gave everything but in the end it was like that and that’s what made me a bit sad.”
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