FC Barcelona travelled to the San Siro in Milan as second place in group C in an attempt to further secure their place among the top 2 of Group C which has been dubbed as this season’s UCL ‘Group of Death’. They were coming off the highs of a victory against Mallorca in LaLiga which saw them overtake Real Madrid as league leaders. Internazionale Milano was a contrasting figure, however: the Nerazzurri were looking forward to bounce back with this fixture. The Italian club had lost their previous two games in their domestic league and hoped to regain their form with a good result against an in-form Barcelona.
First-Half
The game itself was more or less uneventful for the first 25 or so minutes. There was a penalty shout when the ball was handled by Eric Garcia in the box, but the decision went in favour of the Catalans when an offside was spotted. Barcelona’s star striker Robert Lewandowski was kept quiet by Skriniar and De Vrij in defence. Inter player Hakan Çalhanoğlu broke the deadlock in injury time of the first half when he belted home a low strike from distance which was beyond the reach of Barcelona keeper Ter Stegen. The assist belonged to Dimarco who set up the shot well for Çalhanoğlu with a well-weighted pass. Both the teams headed into the tunnel not long after. Barcelona had conceded right before half-time which had an adverse impact on the psyche of the players. Their coach, FC Barcelona and Spain legend Xavi Hernandez had his work cut out for him.
Second-Half
The second half kicked off with Inter in possession. The first good chance of the second half came in the 61st minute: Dembele threatened to level the score but his shot came off the woodwork. This set the tone as Barca seemed to equalise five minutes later in the 66th minute. The ball was turned in for Barcelona by young Pedri who was later disappointed when the goal was chalked off by VAR for a handball in the build-up. The next big highlight came in the dying minutes of the match when there was an appeal for a penalty by FC Barcelona. The ball appeared to come off of the hand of Inter fullback Dumfries but the referee thought nothing of it and denied Barcelona the penalty. This decision was met with much disagreement from the Barcelona bench and management.
Full-time
The full-time whistle sounded after nearly 10 minutes of added time as Inter emerged victorious. As it stands, Barcelona are not favourites to advance to the knockout stages at third position on the table with 3 points (1W 0D 2L). Inter has assumed second place in Group C having 6 points out of a total 9, their only loss coming against table-toppers FC Bayern Munchen earlier this season.
