The Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys was the venue for Wednesday night’s first of two semi-finals between Barcelona and Inter in the Champions League. It was a sweaty story, with goals and chances galore and incredible performances from the world’s best 17-year-old.
Before the Barcelona stars had really started the game, Inter Milan took advantage of the imbalance and attacked immediately. After a minute, Marcus Thuram beautifully flicks in 1 – 0 goals with his heel after an assist from Denzel Dumfries. – The fastest goal ever scored in a Champions League semi-final.
The Dutch right-back is up front and doubles Inter Milan’s lead after 21 minutes. This time it’s on a scorer from Francesco Acerbi where Dumfries jumps up, throws himself around and thunders in Inter’s second of the evening!
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Then three minutes later, 17-year-old Lamine Yamal showed why he is going to be one of the greatest footballers of all time. A performance in his 100th game for Barcelona that made Manchester City striker Erling Haaland react.
Erling Haaland was left speechless after Lamine Yamal’s incredible performance in the Champions League, where the young star inspired Barcelona’s comeback in the first half against Inter Milan.
Yamal reduced the deficit with a moment of magic.
Lamine Yamal danced past Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the right wing, ran into the box and curled the ball in with a Lionel Messi-esque shot at the far post.
The 17-year-old came close to equalizing soon after when he created a chance out of nowhere. He sent Federico Dimarco to the sink, shifted to his left foot and slammed the ball into the crossbar.
Manchester City star Haaland couldn’t believe his eyes as he admired Yamal’s outstanding performance.
On social media, he shared a photo of Yamal in action, with the description, “This guy is incredible.”
“Football lesson from Yamal”
In the TNT Sports commentary, Rio Ferdinand exclaimed: “Lamine Yamal gives us a football lesson. If Robert Lewandowski had been on the pitch, he would have scored on two or three of those chances.”
Stephen Warnock also praised the teenage phenomenon and pointed in particular to his decision-making: *”Inter have tried to double-mark Lamine Yamal, but the distance they are giving him has become too great.
It’s hard – if you push him too tight, he’ll dance past you, but if you give him space like they are now doing, he can either run inside or outside, or he’ll have time to make a precise pass – depending on what he wants.
That’s where he really stands out, because his decision-making, for a 17-year-old, is phenomenal.” *
Yamal, who impressed for Spain at Euro 2024 last year, continues to reinforce his illustrious reputation with a stellar season.
So after 38 minutes, the equalizer is a fact. Raphinha coolly nodded a cross to Ferran Torres, who came running into the attacking sixteen-yard box and free in front of goal sent in 2-2.
After that, the pace slowed down for a while, for Inter Milan it was clear that Denzel Dumfries was not going to give up. He was involved in everything and 64 minutes were next when the Dutchman reached the top of a corner and – via a Barça defender – headed in 2-3.
A minute later, Barcelona equalized once again. Raphinha received the ball outside the 16-yard box and fired a fierce shot that hit the crossbar. However, the rebound – for the visitors – unfortunately bounced off the back of Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer and into his own cage.
The first round ended 3-3. This means that it is completely even ahead of the second leg, which will be played at the San Siro in Italy on Tuesday next week.
