Inter reach UCL final after defeating Barcelona in seven-goal thriller

Davide Frattesi scored the all-important winning goal in first half of extra time as Inter Milan defeated Barcelona 4-3 after extra time in their UEFA champions league semi-final second leg at the San Siro stadium on Tuesday night.

The exhilarating encounter mirrored the first leg scoreline, with Frattesi making the difference for a 7-6 aggregate scoreline in favour of the home side, who were underdogs going into the semi-final tie.

The 7-6 on aggregate scoreline producing 13 goals is the joint highest scoring UCL semi-final tie since Liverpool and Roma played out a similar scoreline in 2018.

Lautaro Martinez and Hakan Calhanoglu had given Inter a two-goal lead, while Francesco Acerbi pulled the Nerrazzurri from the jaws of defeat in the final minutes of normal time after goals from Eric Garcia, Dani Olmo, and Raphinha had put Barca on the cusp of sailing through following a brilliant second-half performance.

Playing in front of their fans who created a deafening atmosphere, Inter Milan struck first to take the lead on 21 minutes through Martinez’s simple tap-in. The ball was set on a plate by Denzel Dumfries- scorer of a brace in the first leg- who sprang the offside trap to collect a through pass and Martinez finished off his lay-off for 1-0.

While Barca threatened in bits, Inter continued to have the better chances and doubled their advantage via a penalty awarded by VAR after a lengthy review. Calhanoglu stepped up and dispatched the kick to put Inter two-nil up at halftime.

Barcelona were below par in the first half but sprang to life in the second, and found an unlikely hero in Garcia, who volleyed home to halve the deficit on 54 minutes. Olmo then produced a flying header into the far post to restore parity with Barca’s second goal after another six minutes.

The Spaniards were in the ascendancy and had chances to put Inter away in regular time, but did not take their chances, while VAR review ruled no penalty following a foul on Lamine Yammal.

Barcelona completed the turnaround three minutes before the end of 90 minutes with Raphinha slotting home the rebound into the bottom corner after Yann Sommer saved his initial shot to send the Barca contingent into celebration. The joy was cut short in the final seconds of the encounter with Inter making it 3-3 through Acerbi’s well-placed finish from Dumfries’ pass to force extra time.

Inter took the lead in the first half of extra time. Fratessi made amends for an earlier stumble by placing a shot into the bottom corner after exchanging passes with Mehdi Taremi, putting Inter 4-3 in the lead on 99 minutes.

Despite Yamal’s best efforts, Inter Milan saw out the remainder of extra time to book their place in the UCL final.

Victory over Barcelona continued Inter’s record of not losing a semi-final encounter at home. Simone Inzaghi marched his experienced team into their second UCL final appearance in three seasons.

The Milan-based side also repeated the feat of the club knocking out Barcelona at the semi-final stage 15 years ago.

The Italian side will face the winner of the second semi-final encounter between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal.