Tonight, Inter Milan will travel to La Liga leaders Barcelona, who are the current favourites to win the UEFA Champions League this season. The tie will be played across two matches, one home and one away match, for both sides. This evening, the two will face off at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in what is predicted to be a highly anticipated match between Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Barcelona appointed ex-Bayern Munich and Germany manager Hansi Flick in the summer of 2024, and the 60-year-old has transformed Barcelona into a destructive powerhouse that defeats each team they face in this competition. Flick’s side’s competitiveness has rightfully earned them the title of favourites to win the Champions League.
Hansi Flick has previously won this competition back in 2020 with Bayern Munich and will be looking to do the same with his Spanish side. Flick plays with an attacking 4-2-3-1 formation with their talisman, one of the best strikers ever to play the game, Robert Lewandowski, leading the line. Barcelona notoriously has a very young squad, with the average age being 24 years old. They have invested in their youth and developed a lot of homegrown talent, turning young players into some of the best talent in the world. Young players like Pedri, Gavi, Fermin Lopez, Lamine Yamal, Gerrard Martin, and Pau Curbasi have all come through the youth ranks at Barcelona and have broken into the first team to revitalise the team and turn them into one of Europe’s most feared sides.
Players like Pedri and Lamine Yamal were crucial in helping Spain win the UEFA European Football Championships last year, and will be hoping to replicate this with Flick’s Barcelona.
Barcelona’s opponents are the Italian side, Inter Milan, which is managed by Italian Simone Inzaghi. Inzaghi has been at the club since 2021 and has been very successful as he has led Inter to win three consecutive Supercoppa Italiana titles, two Coppa Italia titles, and one Serie A title, as well as leading his Inter side to the Champions League final in 2023, narrowly missing out on the title to Manchester City who won 1-0 against Inter.
Inter is known for its old-school classic Italian side. The side’s success is built at the back, from the defence of Alessandro Bastoni, Benjamin Pavard and Francesco Acerbi. The Nerazzuri play with a 5-3-2 formation to have that defensive structure and utilise the full potential of the wingbacks. Inter are one of the most rigid sides to break down in world football, and it is clear to see as they have only lost five league games all season and conceded 33 goals throughout this campaign, leaving them with a +39-goal difference.
In addition to their outstanding defensive displays, they also have a clinical attack with two of the best strikers in the world, leading the line for Inter. Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram have a combined 26 goals in the Serie A this season. They will be looking to cause trouble to Barcelona in the hope of reaching their second Champions League final in three seasons.
Barcelona beat Germany’s Borussia Dortmund 5-3 on aggregate, whilst Inter beat Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich 4-3 on aggregate to reach the semis. This Champions League semi-final is shaping up to be an exciting one, with Barcelona’s dangerous attacking players coming up against Inter’s brick-wall defence.
Head to head, Barcelona has won this fixture six times compared to Inter, only winning on two occasions, which they will be hoping to increase. The two sides have drawn four times in the history of this fixture, and tomorrow evening, both teams will continue this historic rivalry and aim to win in order to cement their place in the Champions League final in Munich on May 31st.