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Key occasions
Inter have historical past on their aspect within the wake of final week’s 3-3 rollercoaster. They’ve gained 15 of the 21 European ties wherein they’ve managed to document a first-leg away draw, a ratio that compares favourably to Barcelona’s document upon being held to a first-leg dwelling draw: of the 14 occasions that’s occurred, the Blaugrana have solely made it by way of on seven events. Nonetheless each golf equipment misplaced the final time they discovered themselves on this explicit scenario, Eintracht Frankfurt knocking Inter out of the 2018-19 Europa League (1-1 a, 0-1 h) and Manchester United doing for Barcelona within the 2022-23 Europa League (2-2 h, 1-2 a).
… and right here’s how Barça received right here. The Catalans got here second within the mega-group, regardless of dropping their first fixture 2-1 away at Monaco. They went on to beat Younger Boys (h) 5-0, Bayern Munich (h) 4-1, Purple Star Belgrade (a) 5-2, Brest (h) 3-0, Borussia Dortmund (a) 3-2 and Benfica (a) 5-4, earlier than lastly drawing 2-2 at dwelling with Atalanta. Benfica have been dispatched 4-1 on mixture within the spherical of 16, then Barca confronted Dortmund within the quarters, whereupon …
A reminder of how Inter made it to the semis. The Italian champions completed fourth within the group stage. Their marketing campaign started with a goalless draw at Manchester Metropolis, earlier than chalking up six wins – Purple Star Belgrade (h) 4-0, Younger Boys (a) 1-0, Arsenal (h) 1-0, RB Leipzig (h) 1-0, Sparta Prague (a) 1-0 and Monaco (h) 3-0 – plus a 1-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen. (5 1-0s and a goalless draw! Helenio Herrera would have been delighted with that sequence of scorelines.) Anyway, Feyenoord have been seen off 4-1 on mixture within the spherical of 16, after which it was Bayern Munich within the quarters …
Internazionale title the identical beginning XI as they did within the first leg in Barcelona final week. Their captain Lautaro Martínez, who went off injured at half time on the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys and was a doubt for tonight, has recovered from a muscle drawback.
Barcelona make one change to their beginning line-up from final week. Jules Koundé is injured so Eric Garcia takes his place in defence. Robert Lewandowski has recovered from his hamstring harm and takes a spot on the bench.
The groups
Internazionale: Sommer, Bisseck, Acerbi, Bastoni, Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco, Lautaro Martinez, Thuram.
Subs: Di Gennaro, Josep Martinez, de Vrij, Zielinski, Arnautovic, Frattesi, Asllani, Carlos Augusto, Darmian, Zalewski, Taremi, Re Cecconi.
Barcelona: Szczesny, Garcia, Cubarsi, Martinez, Gerard, de Jong, Gonzalez, Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha, Torres.
Subs: Pena, Astralaga, Araujo, Gavi, Lewandowski, Fati, Christensen, Lopez, Victor, Fort, Farre, Darvich.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).
VAR: Dennis Higler (Netherlands).
Preamble
If the second leg is even half nearly as good as this …
… we’re in for a trip. Kick-off is at 8pm BST. It’s on!