Lamine Yamal dazzled, and Barcelona buzzed, and six goals flew in, and on nights like this at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Catalunya, most opponents would have folded. Dozens have under the relentless pressure of Barcelona. They’ve relinquished leads, and succumbed to the most entertaining team in soccer.
But not Inter Milan. On this Wednesday night, in the first leg of a Champions League semifinal, Inter ran stride for stride with Barca, and escaped with a 3-3 draw — a result the Italian club will gladly take back to Milan for next week’s second leg.
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Inter ambushed the hosts with a goal that was both stunning and predictable. From kickoff, it played four its first five passes backward, and lured all 10 Barca outfield players into their attacking half.
Then, with the sixth pass, Inter went long. Lautaro Martínez won a header. Marcus Thuram latched onto it, laid the ball off to Nicolò Barella, and just like that, with Barca’s ravenous press bypassed, Inter was away. Barca’s Jules Kounde cleared an initial cross, but a second one wrong-footed Iñigo Martínez. Thuram back-flicked it into the net. And within 30 seconds, before Barca could even possess the ball, Inter was ahead.
Barca looked unfazed by the early blow. It stabilized nicely, and found its attacking rhythm.
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But 20 minutes later, from a corner and out of nowhere, Denzel Dumfries doubled Inter’s lead.
And that, with his team in a suddenly deep hole, is when Yamal decided to take over.
Three minutes later, he won a physical duel with Thuram, then drove at Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He glided past the overmatched Inter midfielder, like a Porsche going by a traffic cone, and curled a pinpoint shot in off the far post.
Yamal tormented Inter’s left side for much of the first half. A few minutes later, with a stepover and a cut, he spun and sat down Federico Dimarco, then fizzed a tight-angle shot toward goal. Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer tipped it onto the crossbar.
He also clipped in teasing crosses, with all parts of his left foot. He caressed dangerous passes toward and into the penalty box. He drew double-teams and either beat them or passed out of them to open teammates. He brought fans to the edge of their seats, and proved why, even at 17, he might already be the best player in soccer.
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But it was Barca’s other superstars who brought the Blaugrana all the way back into the game.
In the 38th minute, Pedri, Barca’s playmaker extraordinaire, picked out Raphinha with a lovely cross to the back post. Raphinha nodded it into the path of Ferran Torres — who had darted toward goal as if he were Robert Lewandowski, the injured striker he’s replacing. Torres finished, and Barca was level.
In the 63rd minute, Dumfries stunned the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys again. He posterized Dani Olmo on a corner, and scored his second of the night. Inter, which had tread water for periods of the first half, was once again ahead.
But two minutes later, Barca answered. Olmo played a corner to the top of the box; Yamal dummied it; and Raphinha rocketed a 30-yard shot off the crossbar, onto the back of a diving Sommer, and in.
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And that’s how it ended, at 3-3, with all to play for in the second leg on Tuesday at the San Siro.
A blow-by-blow recap of the back-and-forth first leg is below.
