Lamine Yamal had said that he left fear behind in the park in Mataró when he was little and there was no sign of it here as Barcelona and Inter produced an astonishing night at Montjuïc. As the final whistle went at the end of a noisy and hugely enjoyable semi-final with the score at 3-3, there was a feeling of missed opportunity for Barcelona, of what might have been, yet having been a goal down after 30 seconds and trailed 2-0 and 3-2, it might also have been worse. And it was actually pretty special, an exhilarating occasion that resolved nothing but won’t be easily forgotten.
The same could be said of Denzel Dumfries, scorer of two goals and forever tearing into Barcelona, and of Lamine Yamal. They were the most outstanding of many outstanding players on a wild and wonderful occasion in which Barcelona twice came from behind to equalise but couldn’t turn it around entirely, left lamenting their vulnerability at the back. Inter, meanwhile, left satisfied and very much alive, their first task completed. This was a revival they needed, the greatest prize of all still within their reach.
“We’re not used to losing,” Simone Inzaghi had said but it had become a bad habit at a very bad time. Three times they lost in seven days. Defeated by their rivals Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, they lost first place in the league at the hands of Bologna and Roma, Napoli taking advantage. One of three trophies had gone and another was going, the dream of a treble evaporating. Determined that it wouldn’t be the entire season that died away, they could not have started better.
The Italians had only been playing for 30 seconds and Barcelona hadn’t yet been given the chance to play at all when they led. A ball into the familiar open space behind the left-back was the Catalan side’s undoing. The first delivery from Dumfries was half cleared, but he got another chance and this time Marcus Thuram – who had missed those three consecutive defeats – guided a glorious flick past Wojciech Szczesny and into the net. It was quick, and the second wasn’t far behind, Dumfries connecting with an acrobatic volley from a corner after 21 minutes.
If this was a reminder of the ghosts of their Champions League past, and they needed more goals than Inter Milan had conceded in the entire league phase, Barcelona were not to be beaten. Lamine Yamal certainly wasn’t scared. Instead, there he was gesturing for this Olympic stadium to get on its feet and delivering a display that meant they could hardly do anything else.
His first delivery had just evaded Ferran Torres and his second set up the striker to fire a fraction wide. That was still at 1-0 and even two down he kept going. The goal which put Barcelona back in the game was almost absurd, the 17-year-old turning away from Thuram, snaking past Henrikh Mkhitaryan and, surrounded by opponents, bending into the corner. A moment later he almost scored one even better, leaving Federico Dimarco on the floor before rattling the bar. Then with the noise rising and the momentum building, Pedri’s lovely ball was headed down by Raphinha and Torres equalised.
What a game this had become, and it didn’t stop there. If the second half began with Barcelona dominating and Inter sitting deeper, that didn’t mean the Italians had renounced the right to go for the throat when they had the chance. A portrait of the two sides’ approaches came early when a clever pass from Lamine Yamal for Dani Olmo almost opened up Inter and a swift exit from deep did open up Barcelona. Ronald Araújo slid across to stop that attack but, from the corner, Dumfries rose to head past Szczesny, off his line and caught out.
Again, the response was immediate, the place exploding when Lamine Yamal allowed a corner to roll through his legs and, from the edge of the area, Raphinha smashed a shot in off the bar and Yann Sommer’s back to make it 3-3 and throw the game wide open. Barcelona were playing with fire, grateful for a superb interception from Pau Cubarsí and relieved to see the flag go up when Dumfries’ wonderful devastatingly ball was finished off by Mkhitaryan.
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That was perhaps because Barcelona felt they had to take risks, maybe more desperate to win than was truly necessary – shown by their disappointment at the close. Or perhaps it was just because this is how they are.
Either way, it was certainly fun, a microcosm of the game offered when Lamine Yamal pirouetted past two and Szczesny had rush out to deny Dumfries in the same minute. All it lacked was a winner, Lamine Yamal clipping the final shot off the bar. You might have thought it was a mishit, had he not been doing outrageous things deliberately all night.
Source: theguardian.com
