Barcelona 1-0 Inter: Ten-Man Nerazzurri Hold On In Sensational Finish To Reach Champions League Final (Agg: 2-3)

There was a surprise in the Barca line-up, with Gabriel Milito starting at left-back in place of Maxwell, who was named among the substitutes, with Eric Abidal not fit enough to make the 18-man squad. Yaya Toure took over from the suspended Carles Puyol at centre-back.

Inter originally named the same XI which had given them a 3-1 first leg advantage eight days ago, with Maicon and Wesley Sneijder shaking off injuries to play. However, they made a change long after the entry of the official teamsheets, replacing the injured Goran Pandev with Cristian Chivu, switching to a 4-3-2-1 formation in the process.

The first few minutes seemed to be a bedding-in exercise for Inter, and particularly for Chivu, who was still receiving instructions from coach Jose Mourinho at kick-off time as he lined up in a left midfield role. As expected, it was the Blaugrana who attacked from the off, with Pedro the first player to have a stab at goal, but his effort was way off target.

The Nerazzurri saw very little of the ball in the opening stages, with Barca dominating possession and the visitors happy enough to sit back on their two-goal advantage. But when Thiago Motta was booked for a foul on 10 minutes, the home side had a dangerous free-kick. Messi’s set piece ran beyond the melee going on in the box, during which Ibrahimovic had his shirt ripped in a challenge by Samuel.

In the next Barca attack, Maicon did well to allow the ball to run out of play for a goal kick. But as he did so, Messi fouled the Brazilian, forcing him into the advertising hoardings and seemingly causing some damage to his shoulder. Thankfully for Inter, the full-back was able to get up and continue after a moment of some concern.

Despite the stoppage, the Barcelona onslaught continued as Inter found it increasingly difficult to earn any possession at all. On one rare attack, Diego Milito was brought down for a free kick, from which Chivu miscued a cross straight into the arms of Victor Valdes.

But it was a rare foray forward, as Barca continued to rack up the passes, completing 130 to Inter’s paltry 10 in the first 15 minutes of the game. The only worrying thing for the home side will have been their lack of openings so far.

They seemed set to create a decent chance on 20 minutes when, with a great piece of skill, Xavi bought himself time and space to run at Inter’s back four, but Walter Samuel did well to block as the Spaniard tried to feed a pass through to Ibrahimovic.

Moments later, Xavi again could have done more, as Dani Alves’ cross was met by a neat knock-down by Ibrahimovic, but the skipper just couldn’t control the ball as Lucio and Samuel converged on him 12 yards from goal.

Another chance came Barca’s way from another Dani Alves cross, Pedro getting on the end of it but firing just wide of the near post.

Inter then forced a corner after Milito and Sneijder linked superbly to feed Samuel Eto’o, but Gabi Milito poked the ball out.  After a half-clearance from the flag kick, Zanetti played a neat crossfield ball for Sneijder, but the Dutchman was wrongly flagged offside.

Pedro was booked on 27 minutes after he chased down the breaking Eto’o and committed a foul. But the resulting free kick brought the game’s first major flashpoint.

With Sergio Busquets harrying Thiago Motta, the ex-Barca man held out a flat hand, and upon making contact with the Spaniard’s face his opponent went to the ground. To the amazement of the Inter player, and everyone on the away bench, referee Frank De Bleeckere produced a straight red card for perceived violent conduct.

Busquets was shown on video replays to have looked up from his position prone on the ground to see whether the red card had been administered before eventually getting back to his feet, infuriating the Nerazzurri players.

The sending-off resulted in a switch to the centre of midfield for late inclusion Chivu, with Eto’o moving into a position off the left.

Barca took just a few minutes to make their first opening against the 10 men, with Lionel Messi dancing through before being superbly foiled by Julio Cesar’s save low to his right.

Naturally, the Blaugrana's dominance only increased against their depleted opponents, but after Keita had gone down easily under Maicon’s challenge in the box, Alves seemed to control Xavi’s cross with his left arm, only for the referee to wave play on.

Sneijder set off on a rare attack, chasing on to Maicon’s pass, but suffered a knock to his right knee as he stretched to reach the ball ahead of Gerard Pique. As Barca broke with the Dutchman still on the turf, Chivu was booked for a reckless challenge on Messi.

But Inter saw off the set piece, and saw out the half, with Barcelona’s near-400 passes having garnered only one shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.

After an unspectacular opening half from Gabi Milito, he was replaced at the break by Maxwell in a bid to provide Barcelona’s deep attacks with more natural width.

If anything, the second half began with a more end-to-end nature about it, with Inter trying their best to relieve pressure by holding onto the ball for longer periods.

But before long natural order was restored, with Barca dominating but still failing to truly threaten Julio Cesar’s goal.

After a double change from the home side which saw Ibrahimovic and Busquets replaced by Bojan and Jeffren, Jose Mourinho brought on Sulley Muntari for Sneijder.

The former Portsmouth man linked well with Maicon on 71 minutes to earn a corner, belatedly awarded by the referee’s assistant under protest from the Brazilian right-back. Though the corner came to nothing, the attack brought further relief for a tiring Inter defence.

Esteban Cambiasso made one superb challenge in particular on Lionel Messi as he continued to foil his diminutive compatriot to such an extent that each Barca attack was becoming more and more desperate.

But Inter continued to park the bus, with some home attacks starting out with all 10 Inter players within 25 yards of their own goal.

With 10 minutes left, Jose Mourinho set about redoubling his side’s defensive efforts by replacing the exhausted Milito with Ivan Cordoba.

Barca’s night seemed to have been summed up perfectly in the 82nd minute when Messi’s superb cross from the left found the head of the marauding Bojan Krkic, but his flicked header flew inches wide of the bottom corner with Julio Cesar stranded.

But within two minutes Barca had a lifeline, as Gerard Pique ran on to Xavi’s throughball, before turning superbly to shake off the challenge of Cordoba before slotting into an empty net.

It set up a sensationally tense final 10 minutes, and Mourinho’s response was to withdraw his only remaining attacker, Samuel Eto’o, in order to bolster his midfield with MacDonald Mariga, meaning Inter finishing the game with a 5-4-0 formation!

But Barca were now forcing shots on target at regular intervals for the first time. Xavi and Lionel Messi both had efforts blocked by Julio Cesar as the Inter back nine scrambled to keep out a rampant home side.

Barca looked set for the Bernabeu when Bojan fired high into the net in the 92nd minute, but referee De Bleeckere ruled out the goal for an earlier infringement, leaving the home players incredulous.

With the 94 minutes up, the referee blew the final whistle, signalling the start of celebrations in the away end and across Milan, as well as the end of a long evening of defensive toil for the heroic Inter players, who now have a final appearance against Bayern Munich in Madrid on May 22 to look forward to.