It was another thrilling display of football, this time hosted by the San Siro that saw Inter Milan book their place in Munich, defeating Barcelona 4-3.

Inter Milan took a commanding two goal lead of the match, before Barcelona scored three without reply, flipping the game on it’s head.

Acerbi scored in injury time to take the game to extra time before Davide Frattesi became the hero and sent his side into the Champions League Final once again.

Inter Milan takes the lead:

Inter Milan opened the scoring on the night after a cagey opening twenty minutes that did not feature many threatening chances for either side.

Wing-back Federico Dimarco won the ball back in midfield before playing in Denzel Dumfries. The Dutchman had the opportunity to shoot but opted to square it to his captain, Lautaro Martinez, instead.

The Argentinian made no mistake in his finish, hitting the ball first time past the gloves of Wojciech Szczesny to give his side the lead.

Penalty trouble for Barcelona:

Following the opening goal, it was the hosts who were firmly on top, whilst Barcelona were left with the majority of the ball but created much less than their opponents.

Things only got worse for the visitors when Pau Cubarsi put in a challenge on Martinez that, to the naked eye, looked like a perfect challenge.

However, VAR intervened and upon replay it was seen that Cubarsi took some of Martinez when making the challenge, which after a quick look at the screen by referee Szymon Marciniak, was deemed a penalty.

Hakan Calhanoglu stepped up to take the penalty in which he converted to double his side’s lead in a half that went entirely in his side’s favour.

The Perfect First Half?:

Going into half-time, it was hard to imagine a better half that Inter Milan could have had.

Despite only having 34% of possession in the first half, Simone Inzaghi’s men were far the better side, and created many more menacing challenges.

The hosts had an xG of 1.69 to Barcelona’s 0.59, showing that the Italian outfit had the better opportunities and were justifiably in control of the tie.

A six-minute turnaround:

Inter Milan seemed like they were in charge of this tie as the whistle blew for the second half to commence, but this very quickly changed.

Less than ten minutes into the half, the back-up full-backs combined to provide Barcelona a precious lifeline for this tie. Gavi Martin found Eric Garcia at the far post, who volleyed his shot past Yann Sommer.

Six minutes after this, the visitors drew level as Gavi Martin once again provided the cross, this time towards a wide-open Dani Olmo, whose headed attempt beat Sommer, silencing the San Siro.

It was eerily similar to last week for Inter Milan, who would now have to swing the momentum back in their favour.

A dramatic end:

After dominating play in the second half, Barcelona thought they won it at the death, thanks to a goal scored by Raphina.

The Brazilian forced a save out of Sommer that came straight back out to the winger, who, on his second attempt, drove the ball into the bottom right corner to complete the comeback for his side.

Inter Milan were completely flat for the entirety of the second half, but one moment of quality saw the tie took behind regular time.

It was Francesco Acerbi who popped up in the box to fire an effort into the roof of the net, scoring a timely first European goal.

This game was going to extra time.

Inter Make The Final:

Despite looking dead and buried after Raphina’s goal, it would be Inter Milan who would prevail and claim their spot in the Champions League final for the second time in three years.

The decisive moment came when substitute Davide Frattesi struck his shot into the bottom corner, as the San Siro erupted in cheers as the scoreline turned in their favour once again.

The Teams:

Inter Milan: Y. Sommer, A. Bastoni, F. Acerbi. Y. Bisseck ( M. Darmian 71′), F. Dimarco (C. Augusto 55′), H. Mkhitaryan (P. Zielinski 79′), H. Calhanoglu (D. Frattesi 79′), N. Barella, D. Dumfries (S. de Vrij 108′), M. Thuram, L. Martinez ( M. Taremi 71′)

Booked: H. Calhanoglu, H. Mkhitaryan, F. Acerbi, C. Augusto, A. Bastoni

Unused Substitutes: R. Di Gennaro, J. Martinez, G. Cecconi, K. Asllani, N. Zalewski, M. Arnautovic

Barcelona: W. Szczesny, E. Garcia (H. Fort 98′), P. Cubarsi (P. Victor 106′), I. Martinez (R. Araujo 76′), G. Martin, F. De Jong, Pedri (Gavi 106′)  L. Yamal, D. Olmo (F. Lopez 83′), Raphina, F. Torres (R. Lewandowski 90+1′)

Booked: I. Martinez, P. Victor (Not on Pitch), H. Flick (Manager)

Unused Substitutes: I. Pena, A. Astralaga, A. Christensen, L. Farre, N. Darvich, A. Fati