While the Inter Milan players celebrated like madmen, the Barcelona players struggled to mask their pain.
Gerard Martin sat on the pitch, staring blankly into the distance, struggling to hold back the tears.
Fermin Lopez, who had already lost the battle against his emotions, went over to hug him, completely soaked by the rain that fell incessantly on the Giuseppe Meazza stadium throughout the evening.
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Lamine Yamal covered his face with an Inter Milan shirt he had swapped with an opposition player, while Raphinha stood with his hands on his hips and eyes reddened.
Inter had reached the final of the Champions League and Barcelona were left heartbroken at the death of their dreams of reaching a first European final since 2015, and of winning an incredible treble in Hansi Flick’s first great season in charge. The Italians had raced into a 2-0 lead, as they had done in the first leg. Then, as in the first match, Barcelona took control of the game in the second half. This time they came back to lead 3-2 with two minutes to go. But they could not cling on. Veteran centre back Francesco Acerbi’s incredible finish was a dagger to the heart of the Barcelona players, just when they thought the job was done.
Then nine minutes into extra time, Davide Frattesi scored a fourth Inter goal, and Barca could not find a response.
The floor of the Giuseppe Meazza stadium shook as fans celebrated an outcome that was the polar opposite of what they had begun to expect. In the away section, Barcelona fans stood solemnly applauding their team, scarves raised in a clear symbol of pride and gratitude for their team’s efforts.
“Where others see the end, we see the beginning of the comeback,” Inigo Martinez posted on social media with a photo of fans who had travelled to Milan waving their scarves.
Hansi Flick’s Barcelona have proven not to be unbeatable, but while the collective dream of a final in Munich has been dashed, this defeat is by no means a catastrophe for this team, nor will it lead to any talk of a crisis.
This season has been a form of catharsis after all the dramas the club has endured over the last few years. Flick has given the whole team a new mentality and, together with the young players from La Masia, they have been banishing old ghosts left, right and centre.
Barcelona celebrate the Raphinha goal they thought had won them the tie (Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images)
First, the European stage fright that the team had been suffering for several seasons, unable to compete with the biggest teams on equal terms.
Then, the team healed old wounds against rivals that had long traumatised the club. They beat Bayern Munich in the first phase of the Champions League, a team that had wounded them so painfully by infamously scoring eight goals against them in 2020. Real Madrid, who last season beat them in all three Clasicos. Even against Inter Milan, a side who had taken four points from them in the 2022-23 group stage, they competed on equal terms.
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Barcelona may have fallen in the semi-finals. They may be out of the Champions League, but they have regained the respect of Europe.
It had been a long time since that happened, but in nine months they have managed to once again strike fear into their rivals. They no longer look like the mentally fragile team of the last few seasons, prone to capitulation as soon as the the tide starts to turn. This Barcelona are a team that come back from behind. They have done so eight times this season — against Valencia, Rayo Vallecano, Atletico Madrid, Celta Vigo and Real Valladolid in La Liga, as well as against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup and Copa del Rey finals and against Benfica in the Champions League.
They are also a team that has shown that Real Madrid can lose finals.
The fear Flick and his team instilled in his opponents went so far that, in the run-up to Inter match, all the focus was on a 17-year-old, Lamine Yamal. Simone Inzaghi said at his press conference the day before the match that his team would have to do as they did in the first leg, “double and triple mark him”. And that’s how it was during the match, when Yamal received the ball, he immediately had two or three defenders breathing down his neck.
The referee awards Inter a penalty after consulting VAR (Stefano Guidi/Getty Images)
It may seem logical given the damage the Catalan did to the Italians in the first leg and how the season has unfolded, but looking at it coldly, it’s incredible that the biggest threat to a team is a player who still wears braces and isn’t old enough to drive.
Although this was a superb team performance, it was not without fault. Flick’s team made a lot of mistakes on turnovers that cost them two goals and brought a few more scares. The Italians outplayed them physically, and it showed.
Barcelona’s European campaign is over for this season, and this heavy emotional blow, combined with the physical strain the team is under and the absence of key players, could yet have an impact on their league campaign. This weekend, Flick’s men face Real Madrid in a vital match in the title race, with Madrid four points behind. A win for Barcelona would all but seal the title, and they could be crowned champions with a positive result against Espanyol the following weekend. Defeat would mean Ancelotti’s men would be one point behind with a better run of fixtures in the remaining matches, and surely the psychological edge.
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The blow dealt to Barcelona on Tuesday evening was massive, but only because this team has been able to generate the kind of hope not felt at Barcelona in a few years.
The excitement surrounding this team has reached unprecedented heights. It reached the point where Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati was seen wearing jeans and a Barca shirt, walking like just another fan through the Duomo to soak up the atmosphere before the match.
It even reached the point where defender Jules Kounde, injured and therefore not traveling with the team, took a commercial flight on his own, surrounded by fans, on the day of the match so he could be with his team at the stadium.
This team lacks experience, that is clear. Only five players in the squad had played in a Champions League semi-final before (Inter could still call on many of their players from the 2023 final), but that is the biggest reminder of exactly where this team are.
This was, after all, supposed to be a season of transition, with players as young as 17 and 18 regularly in the starting line-up.
Leaving the stadium, an Inter fan, while eating a sandwich purchased from one of the kiosks outside the stadium, chatted with some Barcelona fans queuing for a taxi.
“For Inter, this is their last chance to win the Champions League. With this team, Barcelona could do it for the next six years.”
Top photo: Stefano Guidi/Getty Images
This news was originally published on this post .
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