Lamine Yamal had said that he left fear behind in the park in Mataró when he was little and there was certainly no sign of it on an astonishing night up on Montjuïc. Barcelona were a goal down inside the first minute of their firstChampions Leaguesemi-final in seven years, reminded of the ghosts of their recent past and needing more goals than Inter had conceded in the entire league phase, then they found themselves trailing again on the hour, but the 17-year-old would not back down and nor would his teammates.
Instead, there he was gesturing for this Olympic stadium to get on its feet and find its voice and producing a performance that meant they could hardly do anything else. One that suggested it is not that he might become the best player around, but that he already might be, the most outstanding of many outstanding men on a wild and wonderful occasion in whichBarcelonatwice came from behind to equalise, going from 2-0 to 2-2 and 3-2 to 3-3, but couldn’t quite turn it around entirely. Instead it finished 3-3, leaving Inter with a slight advantage and setting up what could be a sensational second leg. If it is half as good as this, it will be fun, that’s for sure.
“We’re not used to losing,” Simone Inzaghi had said but it had become a bad habit at a very bad time. Three times they lost in seven days. Defeated by their rivals Milanin the Coppa Italia semi-finals, they lost first place in the league at the handsof Bolognaand Roma,Napoli taking advantage. One of the three trophies had gone and another was going, the dream of a treble evaporating. Inter were determined it wouldn’t be the entire season that slipped away, and they could not have started better.
The Italians had only been playing for 30 seconds and Barcelona hadn’t yet been given the chance to play at all when they led. A ball into the familiar open space behind the left-back was the Catalan side’s undoing. The first delivery from Denzel Dumfries was half cleared, but he got another chance and this time Marcus Thuram – who had missed those three consecutive defeats – guided a glorious flick past Wojciech Szczesny and into the net. That was quick, and the second wasn’t far behind, Dumfries producing an acrobatic volley from a corner after just 21 minutes.
By then, though, Barcelona had already reacted and something brilliant was building, led by Lamine Yamal. His first delivery had just evaded Ferran Torres and his second had set up the striker to fire a fraction wide. That was still at 1-0 and even two down he kept going, the fear palpable every time he moved. The goal which put Barcelona back in the game was almost absurd, the youngster turning away from Thuram, snaking past Henrikh Mkhitaryan and, surrounded by opponents, bending into the far corner.
A moment later he almost scored one even better, leaving Federico Dimarco on the floor and smashing off the bar virtually from the byline, and he wasn’t finished. Barcelona weren’t either, the noise rising and the momentum building. Pedri’s lovely ball was headed down by Raphinha and Torres equalised. What a game this had become.
It didn’t stop there because, if the second half began with Barcelona dominating and Inter sitting deeper, that didn’t mean the Italians had renounced the right to go for the throat when they had the chance to run. A portrait of the two sides’ approaches came early when a clever, cheeky pass from Lamine Yamal for Dani Olmo almost opened Inter and a swift exit from deep did open up Barcelona, putting the visitors in the lead again. Ronald Araújo slid across to stop that attack but, from the corner, Dumfries rose to head past Szczesny, off his line and caught out.
Again, the response was immediate, the place exploding when Lamine Yamal allowed a corner to roll through his legs and, from the edge of the area, Raphinha smashed a shot in off the bar and Yann Sommer’s back.
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Now it was wide open. Barcelona were playing with fire, grateful for a superb interception from Pau Cubarsí and relieved to see the flag go up and the VAR ratify that by millimetres when Dumfries’ wonderful delivery behind the line was finished off by Mkhitaryan. In part perhaps they felt they had to, more desperate to win here than was truly necessary. Besides, this is just their way and it was certainly exhilarating, a portrait of this game offered when Lamine Yamal pirouetted past two opponents and Szczesny had to fly off his line to deny Dumfries in the 80th minute.
And then, with three minutes to go, Lamine clipped a shot off the bar that you might have thought was a mishit had he not been doing equally outrageous things deliberately all night.