Lamine Yamal and Raphinha starred for Barcelona while Denzel Dumfries scored two goals for Inter Milan in a spectacular 3-3 draw between both teams in the Champions League on Wednesday night in Spain.
Barcelona were left stunned after Marcus Thuram latched on to an audacious backheel pass from Dumfries to put Inter in front within a minute of the game at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Montjuic. The goal after 30 seconds is the fastest in a Champions League semi-final.
Dumfries was in the mood for the spectacular tonight as he made it 2-0 for Simone Inzaghi’s side, meeting a flicked-on header by Francesco Acerbi off Federico Dimarco’s corner-kick with a stunning bicycle kick midway through the first half.
That lead was halved just three minutes later when Lamine Yamal showed his class with a stunning curling effort on his 100th appearance for Barcelona, before coming so close to equalising just a minute later only to be denied by the woodwork.
Barcelona will get the equaliser their dominance deserved in the 38th minute when Raphinha found Ferran Torres with a headed pass for the Spaniard to tap home and tie the match at 2-2, with no further goals until half-time.
The home side maintained their dominance in the second half although Inter Milan looked more assured in containing the Barcelona pressure this time unlike in the first half.
Inter’s composure would be rewarded when Dumfries fired in his second of the night to put Simone Inzaghi’s side back in front just past the hour mark.
Barcelona responded almost immediately, with the ball worked to Raphinha, who saw a fierce shot tipped onto the woodwork by Yann Sommer, only for the ball to bounce off the Inter keeper into the net.
The match saw another goal as Henrikh Mkhitaryan thought he had restored Inter’s lead yet again, only for the goal to be ruled out due to offside in the build up to it.
Both sides would settle for the 3-3 draw eventually, leaving the Champions League semi-final tie finely poised ahead of next Tuesday’s return leg at the San Siro.