Brazil legend Cafu tips compatriot Raphinha for Ballon d'Or
Brazil legend Cafu tips compatriot Raphinha for Ballon d'Or
01:06
• All-time great Champions League tie: After an all-time classic in the first leg that finished 3-3 last Wednesday in Spain, an even better match has taken place at the San Siro. Inter has shocked the world and beaten Barcelona 4-3 in extra-time! Ciao, Munich!
• More Champions League action: The winner tonight will move on the play either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal, who play their second leg in the City of Light tomorrow night with PSG narrowly ahead 1-0 in the tie.
• Sigue nuestra cobertura en español: Si quiere seguir toda la acción del semifinal contra el Inter y el Barça en español, CNN en Español tiene cobertura en directo aquí.
After 120 minutes of pure drama, magical moments and stunning performances, there is only one thing we know for sure: few will be sleeping in Milan tonight.
Last week’s first leg – which finished 3-3 – was incredible, but somehow this return match was even better.
Inter Milan started far the stronger of the two sides and raced into a 2-0 lead at half-time through Lautaro Martínez’s opener and Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s penalty.
Barcelona looked way off it in the opening 45 minutes and knew it needed something special in the second half to get itself back into contention – and that’s exactly what the Spanish giant produced.
In less than six minutes, Barça had leveled the scoreline through Eric García’s fine finish and Dani Olmo’s header, as the San Siro was stunned into silence.
Then, with the Blaugrana dominating the ball, the visitors thought they had scored a late winner when Raphinha fired a shot into the bottom corner of the net in the 88th minute.
That seemed to be it, there was no way Inter could muster enough energy to find another goal and Barça fans must have started looking at flights to the final in Munich.
But then, in the 93rd minute, Francesco Acerbi sent Nerazzurri fans into a frenzy after smashing the ball into the roof of Barcelona’s net to level the scores.
Acerbi, 37, was in tears and pointed to the sky after scoring his first ever Champions League goal as mayhem played out around him.
Extra-time then loomed for both sides, but it was Inter who got the better of it, spurred on by the home support.
The winning goal came in the 99th minute after brilliant hold up play by striker Marcus Thuram, who laid the ball off to Davide Frattesi in the box. The midfielder kept his composure to guide his shot into the corner of the net to send the Italian side into dreamland.
“What happened? I don’t know! I celebrated so loudly that my head was spinning,” Frattesi said after the game.
But, naturally, Barça wasn’t done and almost found another equalizer in the final moments of extra-time. First, Robert Lewandowski headed just over the bar from a couple meters out, before Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer produced a world-class save to deny Lamine Yamal’s effort from nestling into the back of the net.
“I’m very happy, we played an incredible match. Which save will I remember? The last one on Lamine Yamal; he is a great player and, fortunately, it didn’t go in,” Player of the Match Sommer said.
“Many teams would have given up after going down 3-2, but we didn’t and managed to come back.”
After tonight’s win, you feel it was destiny for Inter Milan to reach the Champions League final where it will meet either PSG or Arsenal.
The second semifinal is set for Wednesday night and CNN Sports will be across all the action live once again.
Key Stat: This was the joint-highest scoring semifinal tie in Champions League history, along with Liverpool’s 7-6 win against Roma in 2018.
Inter Milan captain Lautaro Martínez will have the chance to right the wrongs of two years ago when he and the Italian side take the pitch in Munich, Germany for the Champions League final.
The Nerazzurri lost 1-0 to Manchester City in 2023 but will again be able to win a fourth European Cup and first since Jose Mourinho led the team to Champions League glory in 2010.
“Incredible. I’m so happy,” he told Prime Sport. “I’m thankful for my family, for everyone here. I’m proud of Inter.
“We’ll do everything we can, we have one last step left. Just as we reached Istanbul two years ago, today we’re in a final again. We did a great job, we just need to finish that last bit.
“We’ll prepare, finish our (domestic) championship, and then we’ll think about another final and try to take this club to the greatest heights.”
Martínez was a doubt for the second leg after going off injured in the first with an apparent hamstring issue.
The Argentine admitted he wasn’t at full fitness tonight, but said he was determined to play and help the team.
“The truth is I was really bad, really sad, but with the medical team and all the staff we did a great job,” Martínez revealed.
“Although I wasn’t at 100%, I wanted to be on the pitch with my teammates and thanks to God, they’ve given me this joy of returning to play in a Champion League final.”
Half a world away from the San Siro, some key moves were announced for next year’s World Cup – which will likely feature many of the players who were on the pitch tonight.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced new appointments to the task force that is coordinating preparations for the 2026 World Cup.
Trump announced that Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a longtime Trump aide, will serve as the executive director of the Presidential Task Force on the 2026 World Cup. Carlos Cordeiro, a former president of US Soccer and currently a senior adviser at FIFA, will serve as Giuliani’s senior adviser.
Giuliani, who was a former gubernatorial candidate in New York, served in Trump’s first administration as a special assistant to the president and was associate director of the Office of Public Liaison. Trump noted that he helped coordinate the reentry of foreign professional athletes who ply their trade in the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the first meeting of the task force on Tuesday, Trump praised Giuliani as a competitive person and an accomplished golfer.
“He’s a highly competitive golfer, by which I mean really good,” Trump said. “And he’s also a highly competitive person, and he loves what we’re doing. So, I want to congratulate you and your family and your father, your great father, who’s the greatest mayor in the history of New York. So, I want to congratulate the family.”
He added with a laugh, “It’s a big post, you better do well, Andrew.”
The task force is largely made up of members of Trump’s Cabinet and Vice President JD Vance is serving as vice chairman. Other members of the task force include Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Todd Young, Reps. Darin LaHood and Bryan Steil.
Incredible. Remarkable. Ridiculous. It seems unlikely that words will ever do justice to the tie we have just witnessed.
That was unquestionably one of the greatest Champions League ties in history. It might even be the greatest.
It had absolutely everything. There was a glut of goals, end-to-end action, comebacks for both teams, nerve-racking VAR reviews and a raucous atmosphere.
In a tie that had 13 goals, you probably wouldn’t expect the goalkeepers to get a shoutout, but Inter’s Yann Sommer made 14 saves across the two legs – and his 14th was perhaps the pick of the bunch.
The Swiss international strained every sinew to reach Lamine Yamal’s goal-bound effort in extra time and tip the ball around the post. Talk about saving your best ‘til last.
Another wonderful storyline in a wild semifinal came courtesy of Inter defender Francesco Acerbi, who scored the equalizer for Inter three minutes into added time.
At 37 years of age and after 20 seasons in professional soccer, Acerbi scored his first Champions League goal to send the game to extra-time and make himself an unlikely hero.
I’ve no idea how it happened, but Inter Milan has beaten Barcelona in one of the most amazing soccer matches ever.
This grand old stadium has seen some magical moments over the years, but few can compare to what it’s just witnessed over the last 120 minutes.
Inter players embrace each other in tears, while the Nerazzurri faithful go crazy in the stands.
🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) May 6, 2025
Barcelona’s stars are stunned. Some can barely lift themselves off the turf. They were mere seconds away from the final before Inter launched one of the most incredible comebacks in Champions League history.
Stay tuned while we try break down what we’ve just seen.
Final score: Inter Milan 4-3 Barcelona (Aggregate: 7-6)
That is simply sensational from Inter Milan keeper Yann Sommer.
Lamine Yamal cuts in from the right and looks to curl a shot into the far corner. Most people in the San Siro thought it was heading in, but Sommer springs into action and tips the effort around the post.
That could be a game-winning stop. Less than five minutes left.
Score: Inter Milan 4-3 Barcelona (Aggregate 7-6)
Barça goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny has just produced a great save to keep his team in the game.
It looked as though Davide Frattesi was going to score almost a carbon copy of his goal at the other end of the pitch, but Szczęsny got down quickly to tip the ball behind for a corner.
What a tie we’re witnessing.
That was almost the equalizer for Barcelona!
Lamine Yamal sprung into life and teased a wonderful cross into the box. Robert Lewandowski looked set to head into the goal but somehow directs his effort over the bar.
A huge chance!
Score: Inter Milan 4-3 Barcelona (Aggregate 7-6)
Just 15 minutes left in extra-time of this incredible semifinal and who knows what is going to happen?
There are some saying this is the greatest Champions League tie in history and those people surely aren’t far off in their assessment.
Can Barcelona find another way back into this match?
Score: Inter Milan 4-3 Barcelona (Aggregate 7-6)
There must be some really tired legs out there, but Inter and Barcelona are still going for it.
Sometimes, you get the sense that both teams are just waiting for extra-time to end and playing for penalties – but that’s certainly not the case today.
The San Siro has been rocking since Davide Frattesi put Inter back in front and you would expect the second half of extra-time to be all Barcelona as Hansi Flick’s side go in search of another equalizer in this incredible tie.
Although, I’ve given up predicting what might happen next in this tie.
Score: Inter 4-3 Barcelona (Aggregate 7-6)
INCREDIBLE SCENES!
Inter Milan was just a few minutes from being knocked out of the Champions League and now it finds itself ahead in this stunning semifinal!
It was brilliant hold up play by striker Marcus Thuram who lays the ball off to Davide Frattesi. The midfielder keeps his composure in the box to guide his shot into the corner of the net.
The San Siro is rocking and it’s even started to rain. What drama!
Score: Inter Milan 4-3 Barcelona (Aggregate: 7-6)
Not much of a break for the players or for people writing a live story on the match…
We are underway in extra-time!
Enjoy the first 90 minutes? Luckily, we have another 30 minutes of extra-time to look forward to.
The referee brings regulation play to an end with the scores all level at 6-6 on aggregate.
It’s been a brilliant second half from Barcelona, but the visitor will be frustrated it couldn’t hold on for a few minutes at the end.
Inter Milan will be feeling energized now after looking like it was on the brink of being knocked out. What a thrilling 30 minutes we’re in for.
Score: Inter Milan 3-3 Barcelona (Aggregate: 6-6)
You’ll never believe it, but Inter Milan has found a last-minute equalizer out of nowhere!
It looked as though Barcelona had broken Inter hearts with that late Raphinha goal, but the host wasn’t finished.
Despite being second-best all second half, Inter’s Denzel Dumfries breaks through yet again and set up Francesco Acerbi who smashed his effort into the roof of the net.
At 37, Acerbi is the oldest player on the pitch and he can barely believe what he’s just done.
This is why we all love the Beautiful Game!
Score: Inter Milan 3-3 Barcelona (Aggregate 6-6)
Raphinha’s first effort is punched straight back to him by Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer, but the Brazil forward drills the ball into the bottom corner with his second shot to give Barcelona the lead with just a couple of minutes remaining.
There are five minutes of injury time added on. Can Barça hold on to reach the final?
Score: Inter 2-3 Barcelona (Aggregate 5-6)
It’s a cliché I know, but this really has been a game of two halves.
The first 45 minutes were all Inter Milan, with the home side limiting Barcelona to half chances.
But whatever was said to the Barça players at the break has worked because it’s been all them in the second half.
Inter players are struggling to deal with the occasion at the moment and it’s now just wave after wave of Blaugrana attacks.
Lamine Yamal almost produced something special just then, but his shot was well-saved.
A little more than 10 minutes remaining here, with extra-time looming.
Score: Inter Milan 2-2 Barcelona (Aggregate: 5-5)
An error at the back results in Henrikh Mkhitaryan bringing down Lamine Yamal, and referee Szymon Marciniak points to the penalty spot.
However, a brief VAR review shows Mkhitaryan first made contact with Yamal just outside the penalty area. And I mean just.
Even Marciniak makes a gesture with his fingers to indicate how small the margin was.
A collective sigh of relief is expelled inside the San Siro after the free kick comes to nothing.
We said Barcelona needed something special in this second half and the Blaugrana have certainly delivered.
In less than six minutes, Barça has scored two goals to level the tie – a repeat of what happened in the first leg!
There are now less than 30 minutes left of regulation time for one of these teams to score a winner, and one of these players to make themselves a hero.
Score: Inter Milan 2-2 Barcelona (Aggregate: 5-5)
Wow! What an incredible five minutes in Milan.
Gerard Martín is now causing Inter real trouble with his deliveries into the box, and he’s just whipped in another delightful cross for Dani Olmo to head home the equalizer for Barcelona!
That’s two assists in five minutes for the defender.
This game is following the same pattern as the first leg, with Inter taking a 2-0 lead and being pegged back on both occasions.
Score: Inter 2-2 Barcelona (Aggregate 5-5)
I was just about to write that Barcelona was yet to trouble this organized Inter defense – then up pops Eric García.
The defender wandered late into the box and caught Gerard Martín’s cross perfectly on his instep, firing the ball into the top corner.
Game on!
Score: Inter 2-1 Barcelona (Aggregate 5-4)
Right, here we go!
Barcelona has 45 minutes to score at least two goals to try get itself back into this tie. It would require something special, but such things tend to be commonplace in this tournament.
Inter, though, will feel confident of holding on to its lead and becoming the first team to confirm a place in the Champions League final in Munich.
Score: Inter Milan 2-0 Barcelona (Aggregate: 5-3)
• Possession: Inter 40%-60% Barcelona
• Attacks: Inter 18-22 Barcelona
• Shots: Inter 8-6 Barcelona
• Shots on target: Inter 3-1 Barcelona
• Passing accuracy: Inter 69%-82% Barcelona
• Balls recovered: Inter 25-22 Barcelona
• Offsides: Inter 1-1 Barcelona
• Goalkeeper saves: Inter 1-1 Barcelona
• Distance covered (km): Inter 55.7-53.9 Barcelona
This second leg was certainly far cagier than the first, but it exploded in the final minutes of that half.
After Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s penalty, Inter Milan now takes a 2-0 lead on the night (and a 5-3 lead on aggregate) into the break.
Barcelona enjoyed its best period of the half in the 10 minutes after the Nerazzurri took the lead, but so far Hansi Flick’s side hasn’t really troubled Inter’s supremely organized defense.
Inter boss Simone Inzaghi will be delighted with his side’s performance so far and that second goal has helped Inter put one foot into this year’s final.
Score: Inter Milan 2-0 Barcelona (Aggregate: 5-3)
Hakan Çalhanoğlu tucks the penalty away with supreme confidence, drilling it low to Wojciech Szczęsny’s right as the goalkeeper dove the wrong way.
There was a brief red card check by the video assistant referee (VAR) after players from both teams clashed following the goal celebrations, but it came to nothing.
Score: Inter 2-0 Barcelona (Aggregate 5-3)
VAR has awarded Inter Milan a penalty after challenge on Lautaro Martínez. Huge chance for the host.
Score: Inter Milan 1-0 Barcelona (Aggregate: 4-3)
Inter Milan still has its nose in front, but the game is still very much in the balance.
Since going behind, Barcelona has been pushing to level the score but has so far only created one real opportunity that Lamine Yamal missed with a wayward effort a few minutes ago.
The problem for the visitor is that it looks so vulnerable at the back and Inter is looking to capitalize on the counterattack.
Inter will be hoping to hold on until half-time, but Barça is looking increasingly dangerous.
Score: Inter Milan 1-0 Barcelona (Aggregate: 4-3)
Barcelona has enjoyed its best period of possession in the minutes after Inter Milan opened the scoring.
Dani Olmo was just the latest Barcelona player to break into the box, but he dragged his effort wide of the post via a deflection.
So far, Barça hasn’t created any clear-cut chances, but Hansi Flick’s side is starting to turn up the pressure.
We have the breakthrough in this second leg as Inter Milan captain Lautaro Martínez gives his side the lead in the 21st minute.
There was a chance the striker wouldn’t be fit enough for this match after limping out of the first leg injured, but Inter fans will be grateful he recovered in time.
Barcelona’s defense has looked very shaky so far and the Nerazzurri finally broke the offside trap when Denzel Dumfries ran through on goal. The defender kept his calm and squared the ball to Martínez who tapped into an empty net.
The game has now come alive.
🐂
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 6, 2025
Score: Inter 1-0 Barcelona (Aggregate: 4-3)
In addition to trying to stop Lamine Yamal from stamping his authority on this match, Inter Milan seems to have a game plan going forward.
At almost every opportunity, Inter is switching the play with long balls from one side to the other in the hope of creating overloads down one side.
It almost worked when Denzel Dumfries powered his way down the right hand side, but the defender – who scored two goals in the first leg – appeared to panic when he broke into the box.
Barcelona’s defense is yet again playing a high line and Inter has threatened to exploit that space in behind more than once.
This game might not be dramatic, but it’s interesting none the less.
It’s fair to say the beginning of the second leg hasn’t been quite as thrilling as the first.
It’s been a very cagey start from both teams and after 10 minutes there hasn’t been any real action to talk about.
Lamine Yamal, unsurprisingly, looks lively for Barcelona early on and has skipped past a couple of challenges, but has so far been mostly subdued.
Score: Inter 0-0 Barcelona (Aggregate: 3-3)
The San Siro is bouncing for Inter Milan’s biggest game of the season as the Champions League anthem blares through the stadium and Barcelona is in town to spoil the party.
Remember, this tie is finely poised at 3-3 after the incredible first leg last week and there is all to play for here.
Barça is playing in a lime kit, with Inter in its famous blue and black stripes.
Let’s see what this game has in store.
Score: Inter 0-0 Barcelona (Aggregate: 3-3)
Joan Monfort is a Barcelona-based photographer who has been a regular at sporting events around Spain for over 30 years, but a photoshoot he did back in 2007 is now his most famous.
Monfort was the photographer who captured a then-20-year-old Lionel Messi holding a baby as part of a photoshoot for UNICEF and the Catalan giants, with the Argentine soccer star also posing with the infant in the bath alongside his mother.
As it turns out, greatness was holding soon to be greatness. The baby in question was future Blaugrana and Spain sensation Lamine Yamal.
The photos of Messi holding Yamal grabbed the world’s attention last year when his dad posted a picture on his Instagram account of the baby’s mum and the Argentine smiling at the infant in a soapy bath with the caption: “The beginning of two legends.”
Who would have thought that one day that very baby would be threatening to create a legacy that could rival the legendary Messi?
No one can stop talking about Barcelona’s teenage star Lamine Yamal, and that even includes some of the sport’s biggest names.
In the build up to today’s game, former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger and World Cup winner Marcel Desailly have both spoken about how Yamal could reach the levels set by Lionel Messi – arguably the greatest player in history.
“What is comparable with Messi, is that when he (Yamal) runs with the ball, the ball is always at the distance of play,” Wenger said on BeIn Sports. “The ball is never far, it’s like glue.”
Desailly responded by saying that Yamal is “probably going to be better than Messi” but both men agreed the most important thing was for the teenager to stay injury free.
High praise, indeed.
• Marcus Thuram’s opening goal in the first leg after only 30 seconds was the fastest Champions League semifinal goal in history.
• Lamine Yamal became the youngest player in tournament history to score a goal in the semifinals with his stunning solo effort in the first leg.
• Barcelona forward Raphinha (12 goals, eight assists) needs just one more goal or assist to equal the record for most goal contributions in a single Champions League season. The current mark of 21 (17 goals, four assists) is held by Cristiano Ronaldo.
• Barça has lost its last four away Champions League semifinal legs. In more bad news, the Catalan club has won just two of its 11 away semifinal legs in the tournament’s history.
• Barcelona’s three goals in the first leg took the team’s tally in this season’s tournament to 40, just the fifth time a team has reached that landmark in Champions League history.
• Inter is currently on a 15-game (W12, D3) unbeaten run in Europe at the San Siro, the club’s longest such unbeaten run since 1987.
• Inter has won nine of its last 11 home leg Champions League semifinals, also drawing one and losing one.
Inter fans would have celebrated as if they had already scored when they saw Lautaro Martínez in the starting lineup.
The striker and captain has become an icon at the club since joining in 2018 and is the team’s main goalscoring threat.
It was a major blow for the Nerazzurri to lose their star striker at half-time last week, after the 27-year-old appeared to pull up injured.
He was then unsurprisingly absent from Inter’s midweek victory in the league but has seemingly made a speedy recovery to start the team’s biggest game of the season – you just hope he is fully fit.
Martínez has scored 20+ goals each of the past three seasons and is perhaps the most underrated forward in world soccer.
Lamine Yamal put in a performance for the ages in an instant Champions League classic in the first leg last week.
The 17-year-old’s display will likely have given Inter Milan’s defenders – and head coach Simone Inzaghi – a few nightmares in the six nights that have since passed.
Inzaghi admits it will be impossible to stop Yamal entirely in the second leg, and instead says his team hopes to just prevent him from impacting the game as much as possible.
“It’s difficult to handle him, we will try to limit the ball getting to him, but it is impossible,” Inzaghi told reporters. “He will be doubled, but we know he is very dangerous. He thinks so quickly, it’s unbelievable.”
Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni echoed his manager’s comments.
“It won’t be easy,” Bastoni told Prime Sport when asked how they will stop Yamal. “He’s a very strong player. Like I said after the first leg, at the moment, he is perhaps the best in the world alongside two or three other players.
“It won’t be easy, but Barcelona aren’t just Lamine Yamal. They have several top players. Robert Lewandowski, for example, so we will have to try to defend at our best to stop him from having a good game.”
After a thrilling first leg, Inzaghi has now seen first-hand how devastating Barcelona’s front line can be but also knows that their defense can be susceptible to conceding goals, in particular with Jules Koundé and Alejandro Balde missing the second leg due to injury.
“We all know the importance of the match,” Inzaghi added. “We must put on a big display against a very good team. We showed our strength. We will need to be determined and ready.
“They usually have an average of 80% possession, we know their qualities well and we know they take some risks in defense. They have a great coach and have already won two trophies (the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa del Rey), we will need a big display.”
It feels as though we are already running out of superlatives to describe Lamine Yamal, but Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has one he now returns to regularly: “Genius.”
After watching Yamal in the first leg, it’s hard to argue otherwise. However, the German manager is wary of his team’s frailties in defense, which will be exacerbated in the second leg with the absence of Jules Koundé and Alejandro Balde due to injury.
“We have exceptional players, with Lamine Yamal, who is a genius,” Flick told reporters. “But it’s the team that is the most important thing. We need all our players to be at their best.
“We have to defend better and change a few things. We all have to be involved in our defensive tasks.”
Hansi Flick, Barça manager
In a huge boost for Flick and Barça, veteran striker Robert Lewandowski is available for the second leg after missing last week’s match with an injury.
The Pole is third in the Champions League all-time goalscoring charts with 105 goals and is only the third player in history after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to reach the hallowed 100-goal mark.
“It’s all going well,” Flick said of Lewandowski’s recovery. “He’s good, better than we expected, and if we need him, he can come on.”
The nerves and excitement will be building inside both locker rooms with less than an hour before kickoff.
And both teams have now announced their starting lineups to the world.
There are no major surprises in the Barcelona team, with superstar Lamine Yamal set to start. Interestingly, Robert Lewandowski is on the bench having missed the first leg entirely through injury.
The 36-year-old has plenty of experience in this competition and might be a helpful man to bring on if Barça needs help getting over the line.
A big miss for the Blaugrana, though, is defender Jules Koundé. The 26-year-old is one of the more experienced heads in an already shaky backline, but he will miss the tie after suffering a hamstring injury last week.
🚨 BARÇA XI 🚨#InterBarça @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/DuBZqptPSx
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 6, 2025
As for Inter Milan, the host will be over the moon that captain and star striker Lautaro Martínez is fit enough to start.
The 27-year-old is the danger man for the Italian side but was forced to sit out the second half of last week’s first leg after picking up an injury.
But Martínez is back leading the line, with last week’s two-goal hero Denzel Dumfries also set to start in defense.
I nostri 1️⃣1️⃣⚫🔵
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) May 6, 2025
SEMPRE E SOLO FORZA INTER 🔥#ForzaInter #UCL #InterBarcellona pic.twitter.com/bmErqaUxxB
Barcelona and Inter Milan have faced off on 13 occasions in their history, with Barça winning six, the Nerazzurri two and five draws.
Last week’s first leg, a wildly entertaining 3-3 draw, was without a doubt one of the greatest matches ever played between these two European giants.
But by far the most memorable of their encounters were the two legs in the 2009-10 semifinals, one of the feistiest Champions League ties you are ever likely to see.
After Thiago Motta was shown an early red card following Sergio Busquets’ infamous ‘peekaboo’ moment, Inter managed to lose only 1-0 in the second leg at the Camp Nou – a result José Mourinho called “the most beautiful defeat of my career” – to go through 3-2 on aggregate.
Scenes of “The Special One,” who would go on to become manager at Barça’s eternal rival Real Madrid the following season, running around the Camp Nou turf and Barcelona’s petty turning on of the sprinklers will go down as an all-time great Champions League moment.
Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena is the promised land that all of this year’s semifinalists are hoping to reach.
That’s because the 70,000-seater stadium in Germany will host this year’s men’s Champions League final on May 31.
The biggest match in European club soccer was last held at the stadium in 2012, when Chelsea beat Bayern on penalties in its own stadium.
The game will be most remembered for Blues star Didier Drogba’s heroics, after the striker scored an 88th-minute equalizer and then the deciding penalty to win the club its first Champions League title.
Barcelona and Inter players will have Munich in the back of their minds as they walk out at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza – better known as the San Siro – tonight.
The excitement around 17-year-old Lamine Yamal reached a new level after what he produced in the first leg of this semifinal last week.
Yes, everyone already knew he was a world-class talent with potential to become the very best, but the maturity and class he showed in one of the biggest games of his career was staggering.
Not only did he score one of the goals of this year’s tournament, but he dragged his squad back into contention after many of his teammates seemingly struggled in the opening exchanges.
All night he was busy demanding the ball and never stopped tormenting Inter Milan’s defense.
Even Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, by far the two best players of their generation, didn’t even come close to touching the heights Yamal has when they were his age.
At 17, Messi had played in nine matches, scored one goal and provided zero assists. Ronaldo had five goals and four assists in 19 matches. Yamal? 101 matches, 22 goals and 33 assists.
All eyes will be on the teenager once again in the second leg, and let’s hope he can entertain as much as he did last week.
It’s not often you get to enjoy six goals in a single game, it’s even more rare for that to happen in a Champions League semifinal.
But Barcelona and Inter Milan delivered an all-time classic in the first leg last Wednesday, as the European powerhouses clashed at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
Inter scored two early goals through Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfires to stun Barça into silence – both finishes were worthy of the biggest stage and set the standard for the rest of the night.
The Blaugrana fought back before the end of the first half, led by the precocious Lamine Yamal, who scored a wonderful solo effort to halve the deficit. Ferrán Torres then drew Barcelona level before the interval.
After the break, Inter thought it had once again found a winner through Dumfries’ header but, yet again, it wasn’t enough, as Barça equalized in dramatic fashion.
Before the traveling fans even stopped celebrating going ahead, Raphinha’s stunning effort hit the crossbar and then bounced off goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s back to go over the line.
The drama wasn’t over, though. Henrikh Mkhitaryan thought he had given Inter a 4-3 lead 15 minutes from the end on a counterattack, but the midfielder had fractionally strayed offside. The semi-automated offside system showed Mkhitaryan’s toe was centimeters in an offside position – agonizing for Inter fans.
Neutral fans will be hoping for more of the same in the second leg, with a place in this year’s final at stake.
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