Barcelona vs Inter Milan LIVE: Raphinha strike sets up Champions League second leg after Denzel Dumfries brace
Barcelona 3-3 Inter Milan: A cracker in Barcelona leaves both teams on the brink of reaching the final
Barcelona and Inter Milan have it all to play for after a thrilling and fascinating first leg clash ended in a 3-3 draw in Spain.
The visitors, tipped as underdogs ahead of kick off, shocked Hansi Flick’s men with barely a minute on the clock as Marcus Thuram backheeled the opening goal past Wojciech Szszesny to silence the crowd. Barcelona then found themselves near the brink of despair as Denzel Dumfries doubled Inter’s lead later in the first half.
Yet, the hosts turned up the tempo with thanks to an inspired Lamine Yamal. The teenager cut in from the right and scored a superb goal to bring the LaLiga leaders back into the match and Ferran Torres equalised just before the break.
A rapid and scintillating match continued after the restart with Dumfries heading in his second of the night, and Inter’s third, before a blistering strike from Raphinha brought the match level again and sets up the second leg perfectly.
Relive the action from the semi-final first leg with our live blog below:
Barcelona 0-1 Inter Milan
20 mins: Close!
Ferran Torres receives the ball on the left side of the box. He cuts to the right and slices a shot towards goal.
The ball swerves away from the far post and sails just wide of the upright but Barcelona are getting closer.
Barcelona 0-1 Inter Milan
18 mins: Dani Olmo looks the feed the ball to Raphinha through the smallest of gaps and, unsurprisingly, gives it back to Inter.
The visitors are really struggling to keep the ball in the middle of the pitch and can’t get out of their own half at present.
Barcelona 0-1 Inter Milan
15 mins: More pressure from Barcelona. A couple of shots from range go wide from the hosts as Inter Milan slowly force them away from the final third.
Barcelona are awarded a free kick which is taken by Raphinha. He whips the ball deep into the box but Yann Sommer is there to punch it away.
Barcelona 0-1 Inter Milan
12 mins: Alessandro Bastoni shrugs Lamine Yamal off the ball as the teenager looks to weave into the box.
He goes down and the Barcelona fans cheer for a penalty which doesn’t come.
Inter’s defenders won’t be overwhelmed tonight. They know what their job is and in Bastoni have a very experienced centre-back.
Barcelona 0-1 Inter Milan
9 mins: Ally McCoist and Rio Ferdinand are chatting away about the state of the pitch on TNT Sports.
They fear it has been overly watered meaning it’ll slow down the pace of the ball when it’s travelling and could hinder the pace of the Barcelona’s wingers.
Barcelona 0-1 Inter Milan
6 mins: Frenkie de Jong and Hakan Calhanoglou both challenge for an aerial ball in the middle of the Inter box.
De Jong goes down looking for a penalty but the referee lets play go on and Inter clear their lines.
Barcelona 0-1 Inter Milan
4 mins: Inter Milan haven’t seen the ball since they scored as Barcelona force them back.
The Serie A side have been strong at defending leads this year so the onus is on the hosts to equalise.
GOAL! Barcelona 0-1 Inter Milan (Marcus Thuram, 1')
Wow! What a start this is.
Martinez flicks the ball on and sends it wide to Denzel Dumfries. His initial ball into the box is cleared by Jules Kounde but Inter recover it and slip it back to the full back.
He then crosses again and finds Marcus Thuram who backheels his first time effort and picks out the bottom corner!
Kick off! Barcelona 0-0 Inter Milan
Inter Milan get the ball rolling and work it back into their own half. A long ball forward sees them burst up the pitch and Barcelona are on the back foot already...
Barcelona vs Inter Milan
The players make their way out onto the pitch.
Barcelona are the big favourites to win the whole competition and they’ll be hoping to get off to a good start in this first leg.
Inter have a strong defensive record but can they keep the LaLiga leaders at bay?
Kick off is up next...
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