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On the second day of the first legs of the UEFA Champions League Semifinals, Serie A’s Inter Milan goes up against La Liga’s FC Barcelona in a matchup that will be remembered. Barcelona takes home-field advantage at the Estadi Olimpic, so it will be one hectic match for Inter Milan as both sides will look to take the aggregate lead.
Don’t miss the kick-off at 3 PM ET, and feel free to analyze our rundown for the game and decide whether our picks are something you want to back or ignore!
While Inter Milan is surely getting charged up for this crucial match against the Catalan giants, they sit on a 3-game losing streak since knocking out Bayern Munich of the Champions League with a 4-3 aggregate win. The first loss was a 1-0 defeat to Bologna on the road before heading to the Coppa Italia Semifinal to face off against long-time rivals AC Milan at the San Siro. Milan dished out a 3-0 defeat to Inter (4-1 on aggregate), knocking out the 2nd-place Serie A team from their domestic cup tournament. This would hardly be the end of Inter’s troubles, running into AS Roma at home for another 1-0 defeat before facing off against Barcelona this afternoon.
Regardless, the Italian side dethroned the six-time Champions League-winning German side in the Quarterfinals. However, facing FC Barcelona is a different ball game, and players like Lautaro Martinez (8 goals in 11 games) will need to ramp up efforts to outscore the dominant Spanish side.
Outscoring Barcelona could be an issue for the Italian side, especially considering that outside of Martinez, only Inter’s Marcus Thuram has hit the back of the net 3 times, proving that this game could be a completely defensive counter-attacking style matchup if Inter wants to escape with a win.
FC Barcelona is having a dream season in all competitions so far, leading La Liga in 1st place (76 points) by 4 points ahead of rivals Real Madrid. After moving on from Borussia Dortmund with a 5-3 aggregate win in the UCL Quarterfinals, Barca stole a 4-3 last-minute win against Celta Vigo before narrowly defeating Mallorca 1-0 at home. In their most recent game, the Copa Del Rey Final, Barcelona headed to extra time against Real Madrid. They scored a last-minute game-winning goal in the 116’ to take home the domestic Spanish Cup trophy in a 3-2 victory over their long-time Madridian rivals.
While most certainly in form, the Catalan side still has a lot of work to do to break down the Inter defense. Robert Lewandowski (11 goals in 12 matches) has yet to return to the pitch with a recent hamstring injury, and starting left back Alejandro Balde will sit out with a distal injury to his left hamstring. Barca’s left wing Raphinha leads the way with 12 goals and 7 assists, and we fully expect him to add to his tally tonight with another 1+ goals, while right wing Lamine Yamal backs those stats with 4 goals and 3 assists so far in the tournament.
Barcelona has plenty of players willing to assist their main goal scorers, including right back Jules Kounde (3 assists), midfielder Fermin Lopez (3 assists), and center midfielder Pedri (2 assists), so if Barcelona can maintain possession throughout this first leg, a win should be relatively straight-forward.
Considering how dominant Barcelona have been in all competitions this year, it’s hard to root against them. Even though the team has suffered several knockbacks with injuries to crucial players, their bench is so deep and talented that it’s hardly a worry. The main concern that Inter Milan can exploit is the fact that left back Alejandro Balde will be replaced by a more inexperienced Gerard Martin.
If Inter can expose that right side of the pitch on the attack, they will need to net an early goal and play the rest of the game extremely defensively. Regardless, Barcelona has recorded 37 goals while conceding just 17 (Inter have 12 goals and conceded 5), and I expect Raphinha to continue his miracle Champions League run with another goal tonight to give Barcelona the win.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.