Loses 7-6 on aggregate in Champions League Semifinal to Inter Milan
Beats Real Madrid 4-3 in the last El Clasico of La Liga.
The Champions League Leg
Socrates, Brazil’s soccer and philosopher once said about his country’s style: “Beauty comes first, Victory is secondary. What matters is joy.” Those legendary and eloquent words best describe what transpired in the two legs of Inter’s win over Barcelona in the Champions League semifinal.
Socrates’ philosophy was expressed by Inter’s coach Simone Inzaghi in another way:“I am extremely proud of the performance my squad has put in, because tonight we faced one of the most offensive and beautiful teams in the world.”
From whatever perspective you viewed this game, as either a fan of the defeated Barcelona team espousing Socrates, or as a fan of the victorious Inter Milan side who must have held their breath the entire time and come away delighted at a victory that they probably shouldn’t have attained, one thing is abundantly clear: these two legs will go down as one of the best and most entertaining in Champions League history. The two matches were not only dramatic to witness, they were also beautiful to watch.
The sheer number of goals, lead changes (and their accompanying momentum swings and dramatic turns) evinced a drama that is not often seen at the latter stages of Champions League competition, when more defensive strategies tend to rule the day. Because teams are so averse to losing, they tend to not take unnecessary risks, especially late in games that are tied, favoring advancement over anything else. Flick’s teams do not play that way. They do not betray their style; they double down on it. Because they do not ever betray their style, their defensive high-line persists, and they tend to also give up a lot of goals. Simply put, Flick’s mantra is we will outscore you.
While this strategy has worked for Barca all season long, in the Champions League return leg, Inter were up to the task. In a see-saw battle (Inter were up 2-0, Barca stormed back to lead 3-2, Inter upped Barcelona with 2 unanswered goals for the final 4-3), Barcelona were not content with managing their 3-2 advantaged and instead continued to insist on a 4th instead of just defending, and in the depths of injury time, were stunned by an improbable and unbelievably highly skilled goal from Inter’s center back. The Milan defender, Francisco Acerbi had scored all of 2 goals in 37 appearances in the Champions League, but in the 93rd minute his sublime redirection of fast moving cross into the box (with his wrong foot no less) just eluded Czesny left hand for the 3-3 equalizer that would send the game into extra time. Drama this good can only be conceived in the writing room. The surreal goal gave Inter the momentum and they didn’t relinquish it. In extra time, Inter scored a very Barca like goal, pinging the ball inside of the penalty box with stunning precision before one of their substitutes, Davide Frattesi received the ball and waited a slight moment before firing the ball past the Barcelona goalie. The irony of that goal must have been too much on the Barca players. While they continued to look for the tying goal that would take them to penalty kicks, one couldn’t help but observe how tired, both physically and emotionally, the Barcelona players were at that point.
Inter had somehow flipped the script on Barcelona and that led them to the Champions League final against PSG, a team, curiously enough, that plays a style very similar to Barcelona.
The El Clasico Leg
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