The semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League are always a special time of year, as four teams fight for the chance to compete in the final and the most important game of European football.
On Wednesday night, two of the biggest names clashed on Montjuíc in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
The home team, FC Barcelona, are coming off a superb week, winning the Copa del Rey just a couple of days ago in El Clásico against Real Madrid.
The Catalans under Hansi Flick are also leading La Liga by a four-point margin, meaning that the club is competing for the treble in this final part of the season.
Inter Milan, as the away team, had a bit of trouble last week, losing all three games they had.
These three losses saw Simone Inzaghi and his men lose their lead in the Serie A table to Napoli and Antonio Conte.
To make matters worse, Internazionale lost their derby in the cup against AC Milan, getting eliminated in the process.
Hansi Flick and his men were therefore favoured in this first leg of the second semi-final, but not by a huge margin.
However, after eliminating FC Bayern with their tactics earlier this month, Inter Milan were known to be a dangerous foe in these games.
In this tactical analysis and post-match analysis, we will take a look at the tactics used by the two coaches, how the teams shaped up and how the game turned out to be an absolute highlight of the season.
Barcelona Vs Inter Milan Players & Formations
FC Barcelona, under Hansi Flick, line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in nearly every game; the German coach did not change his approach on Wednesday.
Marc-André ter Stegen is on his way back after injury, but Flick decided that Wojciech Szczęsny would get the start in the Champions League game.
The back four consisted of Iñigo Martínez as the left centre-back, paired with Pau Cubarsí as his partner on the right side.
Jules Koundé started on the right defensive side, and Gerard Martín played as the left-back.
In midfield, Flick once again trusted his double-pivot consisting of captain Frenkie de Jong and Spanish superstar Pedri, with Dani Olmo playing as the attacking midfielder after coming back from injury.
In attack, a very in-form Raphinha got the start on the left side, young starlet Lamine Yamal started as the right winger, flanking Ferrán Torres, who played as the lone striker.
Under Simone Inzaghi, Inter play with a back three, showing a different preference compared to Flick.
Yann Sommer once again started in goal, with Alessandro Bastoni playing as the left centre-back, Francesco Acerbi playing in the centre of the back-three, and Yann Aurel Bisseck playing on the right in place of the injured Benjamin Pavard.
Federico Dimarco once again got the start on the left with Dutch international Denzel Dumfries playing on the opposite side.
In midfield, Hakan Çalhanoğlu played as the holding midfielder with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Nicolò Barella playing as the two central midfielders.
The heart of this Internazionale team is their two-man strike partnership with captain Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram headlining the attack for Inzaghi in a 3-5-2 formation.
Barcelona Positional Play Tactics
The game started off in a way that couldnt have gone better for Inter Milan.
After just 38 seconds, Thuram was able to finish off a cross from Dumfries with a backheel shot, giving the Italians the lead early in the game.
While it was expected that Inzaghi’s men would simply give up possession to Barcelona anyway, this goal facilitated that development early on, and Inter Milan began to defend in a very deep position from then on.
Hansi Flick and his players now had the task of finding solutions against a very solid deep block.
They therefore had to break down Internazionale’s formation through their passing game and positional play.
The entire identity of the club is their play in possession.
With managers like Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola making a lasting impact at the club, the team today also needs to be elite with the ball to stand a chance against the judgment of fans and the board.
Barcelona Vs Inter Milan [3-3] Champions League 2024/2025: The best game of the season?Instead of staying in their 4-2-3-1 formation, Flick had his men adopt a more traditional Barcelona 4-3-3 shape.
Dani Olmo, as the attacking midfielder, would often drop out wide into the half-spaces or even to the wing on the near side of the ball, which overloaded that part of the field.
Inzaghi had his team defend the centre of the field in their deep block as the biggest priority in this game; therefore, Olmo was just getting away from the areas where the most players were crowding the space.
An
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