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Inter have history on their side in the wake of last week’s 3-3 rollercoaster. They’ve won 15 of the 21 European ties in which they’ve managed to record a first-leg away draw, a ratio that compares favourably to Barcelona’s record upon being held to a first-leg home draw: of the 14 times that’s happened, the Blaugrana have only made it through on seven occasions. However both clubs lost the last time they found themselves in this particular situation, Eintracht Frankfurt knocking Inter out of the 2018-19 Europa League (1-1 a, 0-1 h) and Manchester United doing for Barcelona in the 2022-23 Europa League (2-2 h, 1-2 a).
… and here’s how Barça got here. The Catalans came second in the mega-group, despite losing their first fixture 2-1 away at Monaco. They went on to beat Young Boys (h) 5-0, Bayern Munich (h) 4-1, Red Star Belgrade (a) 5-2, Brest (h) 3-0, Borussia Dortmund (a) 3-2 and Benfica (a) 5-4, before finally drawing 2-2 at home with Atalanta. Benfica were dispatched 4-1 on aggregate in the round of 16, then Barca faced Dortmund in the quarters, whereupon …
A reminder of how Inter made it to the semis. The Italian champions finished fourth in the group stage. Their campaign began with a goalless draw at Manchester City, before chalking up six wins – Red Star Belgrade (h) 4-0, Young 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. (Five 1-0s and a goalless draw! Helenio Herrera would have been delighted with that sequence of scorelines.) Anyway, Feyenoord were seen off 4-1 on aggregate in the round of 16, and then it was Bayern Munich in the quarters …
Internazionale name the same starting XI as they did in the first leg in Barcelona last week. Their captain Lautaro Martínez, who went off injured at half time at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys and was a doubt for tonight, has recovered from a muscle problem.
Barcelona make one change to their starting line-up from last week. Jules Koundé is injured so Eric Garcia takes his place in defence. Robert Lewandowski has recovered from his hamstring injury and takes a place on the bench.
The teams
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 as good as this …
… we’re in for a ride. Kick-off is at 8pm BST. It’s on!
