Defending champions Barcelona crashed out of the semi finals of the Champions' League after losing out on aggregate score 2-3 to Inter Milan. There was high drama at the Camp Nou with Inter being reduced to ten men. But Mourinho's boys prevailed to go through. A dejected iSporter and Barcelona fan Saurabh Datar, reviews the match.
Barca started out with Gabriel Milito on the left flank, and Maxwell was left out on the bench. Puyol was suspended so Yaya Toure handled central duties in defence. Cristian Chivu was the only change in the Inter lineup.
Inter eased it out initially, since they had a good two goal cushion, and had to just hold out against the Barcelona attack. Pedro started the assault with an off target shot. Barca played their famous 'possession game'. Thiaggo Motta was booked for a foul, and Messi's free kick swerved dangerously. Inter barely got the ball, and there was a lone Chivu free kick which landed straight into Valdes' arms. Xavi had a couple of chances to setup as well as score but nothing came of them. Dani Alves's cross was met by Pedro, who fired wide of the post.
Then the drama began. Pedro brought down Eto'o and Inter were awarded a free kick. Sergio Busquets went down when Thiaggo Motta held out a hand, and the referee showed him a straight red for violent conduct. Replays showed Busquets checking whether his 'performance' had produced the desired effects.
The 10-man Inter team had even more a difficult task ahead of them. Messi waded his way through the defence and put in a low shot, but Julio Cesar turned it around. A couple of tries later, half-time was called.
Ibrahimovic had yet another disappointing night, and was taken off for Bojan Krkic. Barcelona looked out for a goal desperately (they needed two to go through) but Inter did all they could to hold them out. Messi was dogged by Cambiasso, and sometimes all ten of the Inter players were in their own half. Bojan Krkic's header from Messi's cross was agonisingly wide of the goal.
The home side finally got a break with Pique taking up Xavi's through ball, turning around and scoring into an empty net. That did it for Mourinho and he took off his only striker on the field (Eto'o) to make it five defenders and four midfielders! The nine man defence worked well, and Barca's attempts were foiled. Julio Cesar did brilliantly, blocking out the likes of Messi and Xavi. Camp Nou erupted when Bojan scored, but he was pulled up for an earlier offence.
Inter's nervous night came to an end at 94 minutes. They will now meet Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu on May 22.
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