Yamal, Dumfries headline wonderful night

Kolkata: Thrice Barcelona trailed, the first time after 30 seconds, and yet they would feel that this Champions League semi-final first leg could have been theirs. Inter Milan would have left Barcelona with similar feelings. Not just because they led thrice but because they could have scored more. 3-3 the night ended, the football jaw-droppingly wonderful at times. No semi-final this century has seen six goals being shared, as per Opta.

It was a clash of opposite styles, efficiency against exuberance, and it produced bursts of individual brilliance from Lamine Yamal and Denzel Dumfries that bordered on the outrageous and touches from Pedri, Marcus Thuram and Raphinha that were scarcely believable. Barcelona, a mix of fragile and fantastic with their high line and attacking intent, sought to suffocate Inter Milan. Often 5-4-1 when out of possession, the Italian giants countered that by staying behind the ball and testing Barcelona with counter-attacks. Barcelona had 19 shots, nine on target; Inter had seven with three on target and a fourth that was marginally off-side.

Inter’s third goal encapsulated how the night unfolded. Barcelona had threatened through Yamal but Inter’s riposte through Dumfries forced a corner-kick which the right wingback headed in. It was their second corner-kick in 63 minutes and Inter had converted both.

The first, also an outswinging delivery, had Dumfries scoring with a bicycle volley. Pau Cubarsi’s pass to Pedri was long forcing a throw-in from which Inter won that corner-kick. 2-0 after 21 minutes was not expected from a team that had recently been on a losing streak at home, their hopes of a treble evaporating. But here they were, vibrantly alive to the prospect of a first Champions League title in 15 years.

Half a minute into the tie, Inter showed how they will play. They took the ball deep into their territory, found Lautaro Martinez with a long pass who played to Nicoló Barella who released Dumfries powering down the right. The first delivery was cleared partially but when it was played back in, Thuram connected with a spectacular back-heel.

But if there is one team that never stops believing in their ability to score, they are Barcelona. They were 1-3 down against Celta Vigo and won 4-3. They trailed Atletico Madrid by two goals and beat them. Barcelona, with Yamal as their fount of creativity, rose to the occasion.

With the outside of his left foot, Yamal had nearly found Ferran Torres twice and did find the man stepping in for Robert Lewandowski through a thicket of legs. Next time in a similar situation, Yamal went solo. And scored. The turn to beat Thuram, the glide past Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the looped shot with little backlift that hit the upright and went in were things of beauty fused together by a genius – Hansi Flick’s description - who is only 17. Yamal’s 24th minute strike made him the youngest scorer in a Champions League semi-final.

Soon after, he hit the post again after dragging the ball from his right to left foot, the process so slick that Federico Dimarco slid the wrong way. He did that to Thuram too, this time with a turn. “Bewitching,” said the television commentator. An exhibition of trick or tease marked Yamal’s 100th appearance for Barcelona.

Inter tag-teamed on Yamal but struggled to contain his back-heel flicks, feints and movements. Yamal rattled the horizontal in the 87th minute again conjuring up a shot that did not look possible. “He’s the kind of talent who is born every 50 years,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi. He doesn’t like being compared to Lionel Messi, Yamal had said before this match. On Wednesday, he showed he can have a cult of his own. “I hope we don’t let him play this much next week,” said Mkhitaryan.

Like Yamal, Dumfries too was bending the match to his will. Two goals and an assist almost became two goals and two assists when he found Mkhitaryan who was off-side by little more than the length of a toe. Dumfries was the stealth bomber repeatedly slipping past Barcelona’s radar controls. “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.

Barcelona’s reply to Inter’s third goal was swift and came in the 65th minute from a corner-kick routine off their own. Dani Olmo’s shot was dummied by Yamal and Raphinha fired a cannonball that hit the horizontal, Yan Sommer’s back before going in.

The night of individual dexterity also saw goals that were the acme of teamwork. Barcelona making it 2-2 in the 38th minute was one such as was Inter’s opening goal. By the time Pedri was teeing up his shot, Raphinha had begun moving away so that he could cushion the header into Torres’s path. With all his experience, Francesco Acerbi did not see it coming. Barcelona’s quadruple dream is alive.