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| Barcelona's Lamine Yamal moves between two Inter players during their match in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday. | REUTERS |
Barcelona and Inter Milan played to a compelling 3-3 draw in a high-octane Champions League semifinal first-leg clash on Wednesday, with teenage star Lamine Yamal shining bright.
The Italian side raced to a two-goal lead with superb strikes from Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries, before the unstoppable Yamal pulled Barca back into it with a sublime solo effort.
Ferran Torres evened the score for the five-time champion, and although Inter nosed ahead through Dumfries again, a Yann Sommer own goal left the tie on a knife-edge at the halfway stage.
"Letting in that many goals (here) is unacceptable, but we also have to give Inter credit, they did very well," said Barca's Raphinha, whose fierce drive forced the own goal.
"The important thing is we leave with a result where everything can happen."
Despite losing three domestic games in a row and seeing its treble hopes crumble, Inter showed resilience and quality in Catalonia.
"After three defeats in a row we saw the real Inter tonight, we played with heart and I'm proud," Dumfries told Amazon Prime Video.
Inter was desperately hoping Thuram would be fit to play after a thigh injury, and he showed precisely why, scoring the fastest ever Champions League semifinal goal after 30 seconds.
Dumfries aimed a low cross towards Thuram and Inigo Martinez slipped at just the wrong time, allowing the France striker room to finish with an impudent back-heel flick.
Quadruple-chasing Barcelona seized control and pushed forward, roared on by the nervous Olympic stadium crowd.
Yamal, in his 100th Barcelona appearance, was leading the charge.
Inter scored its second against the run of play. Francesco Acerbi nodded on a corner and Dumfries reached the dropping ball first to score with a stunning acrobatic effort for the 2023 runner-up.
Barcelona teams over the past few years may have crumbled, but Hansi Flick's youthful side is not burdened by the series of European failures since the club's last title in 2015.
Least of all teenage wizard Yamal, who pulled Barcelona back into the game just three minutes later with a wonderful individual goal that made him the youngest player ever to score in the semis.
On the eve of the game, the Spaniard rejected comparisons to all-time Barca great Lionel Messi, but his goal was straight from the Argentine's playbook.
Yamal shook off Thuram, floated inside from the right flank and past Henrikh Mkhitaryan into the box, drawing defenders towards him, but before they could stop him, he stroked a perfect shot in off the left post.
Yamal nearly repeated the trick minutes later. This time he darted outside, pausing to let Federico Dimarco lunge past him and off the pitch.
The youngster flashed a shot from a tight angle that Sommer tipped onto the crossbar.
"Yamal is a phenomenon of the kind born every 50 years," Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said.
Barca pulled level when Pedri hooked a ball into the area for Raphinha to head across goal and Torres to convert from close range after 38 breathless minutes.
Kounde limped off before halftime in a blow for Barca, while Inter captain Lautaro Martinez also came off hurt. Inzaghi said he "doubts" if he will be ready for the return.
Inter took the sting out of the game early in the second half and then sucker-punched Barca, scoring from another corner, with Dumfries' header bouncing in off Dani Olmo.
Barcelona equalized within two minutes, with Yamal stepping over a corner on the edge of the box, allowing it to run to Raphinha.
The Brazilian's rasping effort smashed against the crossbar and then in, off the back of the unfortunate diving Sommer's head.
Inter's Mkhitaryan had a goal ruled out for an extremely tight offside, later saying he would think about it "maybe for the rest of my life," and Yamal hit the bar again as the sides could not be separated.
"We will have our chance (in Milan)," said Flick. "This is our goal, we will fight for it."
The second leg takes place next Tuesday, with the winner to face Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal on May 31 in the Munich final.
- AFP-JIJI
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