Barça go out with heads held high

Barça go out with heads held high (1-0)

Roger Bogunyà

FC Barcelona will not be going to the 2010 Champions League final. They dominated Inter Milan tonight, but the goals just would not come. Gerard Pique’s 83rd minute goal set up a gripping finale but it is the Italians that will be going to Madrid.

The fans responded in incredible fashion, creating one of the most electric atmospheres the Camp Nou has ever seen. But there was an increasing sense of frustration as Barça’s almost uninterrupted possession of the ball, which reached 84% at one point, was constantly thwarted by the incredibly tight defence deployed by Jose Mourinho. Inter played the last hour with only ten men following Thiago Motta’s red card, yet their tiredness rarely showed. At last, when Pique finally found the net, there were renewed roars of expectation from the crowd. But ultimately it wasn’t to be, and the night ended in bitter disappointment for the team and its ever-faithful fans.

Dominance but no danger

Almost all ninety minutes of the game followed the same pattern. Barça wanted to hold onto the ball, and Inter seemed quite happy to let them. But extremely tight defending, coupled with some often overly-reckless tackling saw Barça often reduced to being forced to try hopeful long-range efforts – and Inter keeper Julio Cesar was in good enough form to deal with the danger.

The refereeing was generally impeccable, although Ibrahimovic had reason to disagree when a claim for a potential penalty was rejected and the call was given against the Swede – despite the rather telling evidence of a massive rip in the front of his shirt! The time-wasting from Inter was also causing frustration, and the worst culprit, Julio Cesar, was finally booked on the half hour.

Motta gets marching orders

The potential turning point came in the 27th minute when former Barça man Motta, who had already been yellow carded, caught Busquets in the face and was shown a direct red. Believing Busquets to have overreacted, the former Barça’s man’s departure from the field was anything but graceful. In fact, the Italians could be considered fortunate not to have ended the half with just nine men on the pitch after Chivu got away with just a yellow for a shocking tackle from behind on Messi.

Yet these constant off-the-ball incidents were doing no favour to Barça’s famous style, who had only really come close to scoring thanks to two Pedro efforts before, in the 32nd minute, Messi produced a fantastic bending shot, and Julio Cesar responded with an equally brilliant save.

Revolution in attack

The second half saw more of the same. Barça in total command, but failing to find any way through the brick wall that Inter’s defence resembled. Guardiola needed fresh ideas up front, and Bojan was sent on in Ibrahimovic’s place, while Jeffren came on for Busquets. Time was running out, and it was time for Barça to send on as much firepower as they could.

Inter, meanwhile, became defensive to such an extent that there was sublime moment when Samuel Eto’o went on what looked like a dangerous run up the wing, but not one of his team mates showed even the slightest bit of interest in crossing the halfway line to support him.

Pique at last

It seemed extraordinary that the game was heading for its last quarter of an hour without Barça having found the net once. It looked like they had when a Bojan header went inches wide, but just a minute later Xavi provided one of his trademark assists to Pique, who made a brilliant turn inside the area and slotted the ball home to make it 1-0.

The goal breathed new life into the players, and also the fans, and there was real belief that ‘the spirit of Stamford Bridge’ was about to send Barça into the final in the same dramatic fashion that it did twelve months ago. And it looked like it had when Bojan blasted the ball home, but the referee had already blown for an earlier handball by Touré Yaya. It was yet another moment of frustration on a night on which Barça did indeed ‘give everything’ as they have promising all week. But ultimately, Inter made good of their 3-1 win in the first leg, and it will be them who will be facing Bayern Munich in Madrid on May 22.

VIEW THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2nd HALF

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