Barça-Inter didn't go to script, and that unpredictability made for a brilliant Champions League semifinal.

Inter coach says such a talent only ‘born every 50 years’Hansi Flick calls 17-year-old ‘a genius’ after 100th outing The Inter head coach, Simone Inzaghi, called Lamine Yamal a phenomenon that only comes along every 50 years after the teenager led Barcelona’s comeback against his team at Montjuïc. Inter led the Champions League semi-final first leg 2-0 after only 21 minutes but, on his 100th professional appearance for the club, the 17-year-old scored an outrageous goal to get Barcelona back in the game and produced a performance that suggests it is not that he will become the best player in the world – he already might be. Continue reading...

Barcelona twice battled back to draw 3-3 at home against Inter Milan in a rip-roaring first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Montjuic Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.

Lamine Yamal had said that he left fear behind in the park in Mataró when he was little and there was certainly no sign of it on an astonishing night up on Montjuïc. Barcelona were a goal down inside the first minute of their first Champions League semi-final in seven years, reminded of the ghosts of their recent past and needing more goals than Inter had conceded in the entire league phase, then they found themselves trailing again on the hour, but the 17-year-old would not back down and nor would his teammates. Instead, there he was gesturing for this Olympic stadium to get on its feet and find its voice and producing a performance that meant they could hardly do anything else. One that suggested it is not that he might become the best player around, but that he already might be, the most outstanding of many outstanding men on a wild and wonderful occasion in which Barcelona twice came from behind to equalise, going from 2-0 to 2-2 and 3-2 to 3-3, but couldn’t quite turn it around entirely. Instead it finished 3-3, leaving Inter with a slight advantage and setting up what could be a sensational second leg. If it is half as good as this, it will be fun, that’s for sure. Continue reading...

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