Internazionale secured second place in Group C of the Champions League on Tuesday. In the squatter at the Giuseppe Meazza, it was Barcelona that played football, but failed to break through the Milan wall. A goal from Hakan Çalhanoglu was therefore enough for i Nerazzurri to keep the three points in-house. Inter will thus be six points, three points behind leaders Bayern Munich, which is still clear. Barcelona remain in third place with three points.
Inter was not in the best flow prior to the meeting with Barcelona. The last two matches in Serie A were lost (3-1 against Udinese and 1-2 against AS Roma); the last victory was dated September 18. That was in the Champions League, against Viktoria Plzen. On Tuesday, Inter again made a better impression in the billion-dollar ball than in the domestic competition. Calhanoglu took care of the first achievement of the match after seven minutes by testing Marc-André Ter Stegen with a flaming long shot.
????????????! ?? A beautiful slide from Calhanoglu just before half time gives Inter the lead ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #INTBAR pic.twitter.com/DTQHdYDzm5
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Oct 4, 2022
Then it was Barcelona that let the ball roll. However, Xavi’s eleven struggled to find a hole in the Milan wall, which dutifully fulfilled Inzaghi’s order: keep it closed. Midway through the first half, Inter came out once and claimed a penalty straight away. However, a VAR check revealed that Eric García’s handball was nullified by Lautaro Martínez’s earlier offside.
The ball mainly stayed around Inter’s penalty area, and yet it was i Nerazzurri who took the lead just before tea. In a rare outbreak, the leather eventually ended up with Hakan Çalhanoglu, who struck hard and low, leaving Ter Stegen without a chance. Barcelona were penalized for lack of inspiration in the hostile half, something that should be improved in the second act.
After the hour André Onana – who is preferred by Inter to Samir Handanovic – finally got the fright free for the first time. The Cameroonian got his hand against Ousmane Dembélé’s shot, which eventually exploded on the post. Xavi decided to bring in a crowbar in the person of Ansu Fati. The growth brilliant, however, cut his team when it thought it would be on the same level. Dembélé ‘chiped’ the ball, which ended up at Pedri via Fati. The midfielder shot the ball against the ropes, only his teammate had touched the ball with his hand.
To lock things up completely, Inzaghi decided to bring the horsepower of Denzel Dumfries. Stefan de Vrij, who was the only Dutchman to kick off, was sacrificed for Francesco Acerbi. That was not to the detriment of De Vrij, by the way: the stopper made Robert Lewandowski dangerous all evening long. Barcelona hoped in the end to earn a penalty after an alleged handball by Dumfries, but got zero on the request of referee Slavko Vincic. The LaLiga frontrunner was left empty-handed.