Barcelona 1 -0 Internazionale (Internazionale wins 3-2 on aggregate)

Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan booked their place in the Champions League final despite losing 1-0 to Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

The first major talking point came before kick-off when the team sheets came in. Upon looking at the Barcelona line-up, one would have thought that they were going to start in a 3-4-3 formation as Gabriel Milito was brought in at the expense of Maxwell. Inter initially remained unchanged from the first leg but seven minutes before kick-off, Mourinho was seen furiously imparting instructions to Cristian Chivu. What was happening? We quickly learnt that Chivu was to start instead of Goran Pandev and the official reason was that the Macedonian international had picked up an injury in the warm-up. He was not seen receiving any treatment and so the conspiracy theorists speculated that it was a reaction to Guardiola’s starting eleven.

As soon as the match kicked off, it became apparent that the whole issue was a non-starter as Barcelona lined up in their usual 4-3-3 formation with Milito at left-back. The first effort on goal came after just three minutes when Maicon allowed Pedro to cut inside and fire a right-footed effort wide of the post. Inter looked content to defend the 18 yard line and let the defending champions try to break them down. The first yellow card came ten minutes in when Thiago Motta fouled fellow Brazilian Dani Alves. From the resulting free-kick, there was all sorts of argy bargy which left Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a ripped shirt. Two minutes later, Lionel Messi pushed Maicon in to the advertising hoardings. It seemed innocuous but Maicon stayed down for two minutes in an attempt to waste time, something which was a running theme throughout the match.

The first real effort of note did not come until the 23^rd minute when Alves surged up the right and played a ball in to Pedro on the penalty spot. The young Spaniard caught his half-volley well enough but it went a good two yards past Julio César’s left-hand post. Inter were offering little in an attacking sense with Diego Milito ploughing a lone furrow up front. They did however, mount their first attack in the 25^th minute but Samuel Eto’o failed to control the ball when in space and the chance went begging.

The game’s big moment came in the 28^th minute when referee Frank De Bleeckere showed Inter’s Thiago Motta a red card after a clash with Sergio Busquets. The Brazilian appeared to try and fend off Busquets with his hand but caught him on the chin with his palm. The Spaniard went down theatrically and his histrionics had the desired effect. A straight red looked harsh but Motta had already been booked and there was a strong case for a second yellow card so the outcome may have been the same anyway. Whatever the case, it made Inter’s job much more difficult.

Mourinho reacted by moving Chivu in to central midfield alongside Esteban Cambiasso and if Inter had little attacking ambition before, they now had none at all. Lionel Messi had been anonymous in the opening half an hour but the Argentine wizard produced a moment of magic in the 33^rd minute and nearly gave Barcelona the lead. He cut in from the right and worked the space for the shot on his favoured left foot. It was heading for the bottom corner but Julio César produced a truly world class save to deny Messi his ninth goal of the Champions League campaign. Five minutes before half-time, Walter Samuel produced a top-class block to deny Ibrahimovic and the Swede was off target on the stroke of half-time with a free-kick. The two teams went in at the break level at 0-0 and whilst Barcelona had all of the possession and a one man advantage, they were struggling to penetrate Inter’s disciplined defence.

Guardiola, sensing the tie was slipping away, brought on Maxwell at half-time for Gabriel Milito but Inter were extremely comfortable defending for the first fifteen minutes of the second period. Barcelona were simply not moving the ball quickly enough and their ball retention and patient build-up only gave Inter plenty of time to organise two solid banks of four. Messi did weave his way in to the box on the hour mark but he was easily crowded out. Barcelona’s usual approach was being thwarted by Inter’s Berlin Wall defence and the Camp Nou faithful started to become restless. There did not seem to be a plan B from the defending champions and they were reduced to long range efforts.

Inter were now less than twenty minutes away from the final and did everything they could to waste time, much to the frustration of the home supporters. Their mood was not helped when Bojan failed to convert a free header from seven yards out after a pinpoint cross from Lionel Messi. One felt it was not going to be Barcelona’s night. With ten minutes to go and their hopes of retaining their title hanging by a thread, Barcelona decided to employ Gerard Piqué as an auxiliary striker and it paid off in a big way within four minutes. Xavi found the centre back in the area and any striker in world football would have been proud of what followed. He sold Ivan Cordoba a dummy and forced Julio César to go to ground before performing a Cruyff turn and slotting in to an empty net. The fact that Piqué had looked more of an attacking threat than any of Barcelona’s attacking stars spoke volumes and one wondered why Guardiola had not made such a move earlier, particularly as Inter barely entered the home side’s half in the second half.  Mourinho sensed a grandstand finish from the Catalans and so looked to sure up, removing Samuel Eto’o for McDonald Mariga. It had taken 84 minutes, but there was now a sense of urgency about Barcelona’s play. Lionel Messi shot straight at Julio César and the dream final in Madrid was fading from view. In the second minute of stoppage time, Barcelona thought they had scored the goal to send them to the final. The ball ricocheted off Seydou Keita and in to the path of Bojan who fired in to the top corner, but the Belgian referee had already blown for handball against Keita. It looked harsh as he was stood a yard from Samuel when the ball struck him, but if Barcelona had their luck in last year’s semi-final against Chelsea, Inter had theirs now.  

A jubilant Jose Mourinho runs on to the Camp Nou pitch to celebrate Inter Milan reaching the Champions League final (This image is the property of Reuters)

The final whistle went shortly afterwards and Inter Milan were in their first European Cup final since 1972. Mourinho’s men had offered nothing as an attacking force in this second leg, but had instead put on a first class demonstration of catenaccio, a style of football coincidentally pioneered by the last Inter manager to win the European Cup, Helenio Herrera. Mourinho is a polemical figure, but whatever your view on the Portuguese, there can be no doubt that he has been tactically inch perfect over the two legs, nullifying the threat of Lionel Messi and his band of merry men. Barcelona’s much vaunted attack simply failed to score the necessary goals and we will now have to wait at least another year to see if anyone can successfully defend the European Cup.