This Inter Milan is decidedly unsubstantial!
This article was automatically translated from HIBAPRESS, the Arabic version:
Hibapree-rabat-fifa
The FC Internazionale Milano took over the FC Barcelona after a semi-final of the UEFA Champions League in Anthology
The Nerazzurri will play the grand final in Munich, next Saturday, May 31
The Milanese club is one of the 32 teams that will participate in the FIFA 2025 ™ FIFA Club World Cup in a few weeks
Future participant in the World Cup, Inter Milan defeated FC Barcelona to validate its ticket for the final of the UEFA Champions League.
The double confrontation of titans between FC Internazionale Milano and FC Barcelona will remain in the memories for a long time, perhaps even forever, as it was spectacular. The first leg (3-3) had already been grand, but during the return round, we may simply attend one of the biggest matches in European football history.
Inter Milan and Barça thus fought a thrilling battle in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, with seven goals scored by the Italians and six by the Spanish on all two games. In the end, it is the tenacity and determination of the Inter who ended up making the difference. After 120 intense minutes on the return, the integrators indeed won 4-3 (AP) in the face of a Catalan armada however kneaded.
A match in history
As in the outward journey, Inter started the return to San Siro return drum and already led 2-0 to the break. Lautaro Martínez, forced to go out on injury six days earlier because of a muscular problem, clenched his teeth to be present on the return. He took it well because his determination was rewarded in the 21st minute, when he opened the scoring. In the 46th minute, it was he who obtained a penalty soon transformed by Hakan çalhanoğlu, surgical against Wojciech Szczęsny, however renowned for his talent in this type of face to face. Half-time whistled, many observers then imagined the affair already heard. They tried heavily.
The second period was indeed very clearly to the advantage of Barça. While Eric García reduced the gap in the 54th minute of a beautiful volley, his partner Dani Olmo equalized six minutes later with an unstoppable head. The denominator common to these two achievements? The decisive passer, Gerard Martín. Carried by a radiant lamin Yamal, the Catalans ended up taking advantage in the 87th minute thanks to a two -step strike from the impressive Raphinha. At that time, no one imagined Inter able to overthrow the course of history.
However, football has that of magnificent that it is unpredictable. In the 93rd minute, when all hope seemed lost, on a center of the tireless Denzel Dumfries, Francesco Acerbi abandoned his post as defender to go up to the forefront, and then sent the ball below the bar of a szczęsny dumb. In a molten stadium, regulation time has ended with a score of 3-3, the same as in the first leg, and the duel of madness then switched to overtime.
Despite the ambient fatigue, the fiery Lamine Yamal did not reduce his efforts and even continued to torment the Italian defense, but opposite, the internalists also pushed and ended up being rewarded in the 99th minute. After an individual feat of Marcus Thuram, Mehdi Taremi put on Davide Frattesi, who first feared the strike before quietly placing the left ball in the small opposite net to sign the goal of 4-3, in an ecstatic enclosure.
The Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer, author of several decisive judgments during the meeting, was still illustrated by turning a powerful strike from the left of Yamal, who could have exploded the Catalan supporters with joy. This parade without any doubt recalls another legendary rescue succeeded by Júlio César against Lionel Messi, during the inter-Barça semi-final of 2010.
At the end of 210 minutes of a fierce struggle, it was therefore Inter Milan out of an anthology match, but it is undoubtedly football that came out of the winner.
Captain’s tears
At the end of the match, in a more festive atmosphere than ever, Captain Lautaro Martínez confided in Sky Sports on the trying week he had experienced: “I really suffered from the injury contracted in the first leg,” he said. “I spent two days crying at home because I didn’t want to miss this match. I did everything to come back, I worked very hard to be ready. We cannot miss this kind of appointment. I had promised my wife and children that I would be back in time. I’m still not 100 %, but I do everything to go back to the top. »»
“We cross a milestone,” he added. “Since our defeat against Manchester City in the final (1-0, in 2023), we are animated by the desire to win this Champions League. We have a unique opportunity to write a new page in the history of this club. »»
On May 31, Simone Inzaghi’s men will play a second final in the space of three years. And as Lautaro Martínez pointed out, the Inter has continued to grow mentally since his failure against the Citizens. Ambition, a mental and an immense heart: these are the ingredients that the Nerazzurri will use to win the continental title in a few weeks. And these qualities, they will certainly take them in their luggage also when it will fly to the United States to compete in the FIFA 2025 ™ club world cup, which will take place in next June and July.
