FC Barcelona 1-0 Inter Milan – Unbreakable Inter far from Wile E. Coyote

FC Barcelona 1-0 Inter Milan
(Inter win 3-2 on aggregate)
Goal: Pique ‘84
Thiago Motta sent off 28′

Do you remember the Looney Tunes cartoons, and the scene that always takes place in which the ‘baddie’ character overruns a cliff but grabs onto a branch and clings on for dear life, sweat dripping, slowly losing his grip as he stares ominously down at a shark tank or bear pit or similar great peril?

That, to me, symbolised Inter Milan against FC Barcelona at Camp Nou tonight.

And while Inter hung on desperately, we watched – nervous, tense, enthralled – waiting to see if they would hang onto that branch, somehow, and clamber back to safety, or if they would eventually tire, arms weary from the struggle, and plunge helplessly into the abyss.

For Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, Samuel Eto’o, Maicon, Schneider, Lucio, Chivu, Samuel and all the bravehearted Inter players who “left their blood on the pitch” for the cause, as Jose Mourinho so eloquently put it, the former applied.

Inter hung on. Unlike Yosemite Sam or Wile E. Coyote or any of the other numerous cartoon baddies who inevitably drop into the shark tank, Inter hung on. And how. Gerard Pique’s magnificently taken goal might have drained the energy from Inter. The dam was creaking, the floodgates, you suspected, were about to open. But no.

Contrasts

In the 90+ minutes at Camp Nou tonight, Xavi alone made more passes than the entire Inter Milan team put together. It was as brutally raw a demonstration of attacking vs defending football as you are perhaps ever likely to see on such a grand stage. Right now I can’t think of a game so emphatically defined along such contrasting lines. Barça boasted 76% possession and completed 585 passes. Inter? Just 67.

The game was extraordinary. Not only for the manner in which the huge contrast between attacking and defensive mentality was so explicitly laid bare (accentuated by Motta’s red card). But also because of the incredible, virtually superhuman levels of physical exertion Inter’s players offered in striving to reach the final. They gave everything.

A telling reflection of Inter’s gargantuan effort occurred at the final whistle. While Mourinho ran around the pitch flailing and pointing like a lunatic, Cambiasso collapsed to the ground exhausted, lifeless almost, completely sapped of all energy.

Camp Nou is no small arena. As anyone who has visited will know, the pitch is massive. Not only that but the enemy Inter had to keep from the gates was this great Barcelona side. A team who pass and retain possession so well they seem to break statistical records for passing almost weekly. To shut out such a team Inter had to run, sweat, chase, scrap and block. On that huge pitch. With only ten men. For over 60 minutes. And they did.

Rarely have I seen a team fight so desperately – with such discipline – for the reward such remarkable commitment surely deserves.

Ibra, Eto’o, Tactics

The tactical battle was intriguing, but Mourinho and Inter won it by knockout. With Christian Chivu picked as an auxiliary 5th defender in a withdrawn left midfield role (7th if you count holding midfielders Cambiasso and Motta), Inter sat deep and narrow, allowing Barcelona as much possession down the flanks as they liked.

However, any attempts by Barça players to cut inside, as they like to do so often, were met by a wall of white shirts.

This is where Pep Guardiola’s signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic – and the thinking behind it – proved a great fallacy. Ibrahimovic was bought precisely for these situations. When a team (like Chelsea last season) comes along and frustrates the Catalans, Ibra was supposed to be the trump card – an outlet like no other, the guy they can lump it to and use as a target man. Plan B.

But Plan B saw their €40 million (plus Eto’o) man taken off after 63 minutes. That a centre back, Gerard Pique, ended up doing the job Ibrahimovic was so expensively signed to do is like a slap to the Swede’s face. Eto’o meanwhile chased, harried and worked like a man possessed – as if he had never sniffed a Champions League final in his life, let alone scored in a winning one just under a year ago.

People are often too quick to overlook Eto’o’s tactical capabilities. But his team-over-self mentality shown in playing on the right through Inter’s Champions League campaign is at complete odds with the lazy tag assigned the Cameroonian that he “can be a bit of a pain to manage.” His tactical discipline is actually superb. Eto’o’s value to Inter, even in a game which saw them create next to nothing offensively, was evident at his old stomping ground.

Jose

One final point before I ask for your opinions. Jose Mourinho.

No matter what you think of him personally, the guy is a phenomenon. A lot of hype surrounds the Portuguese coach – at times a little too much for my tastebuds. I didn’t like the way the cameras shot straight to him at the final whistle, as though he alone had vanquished the outgoing European champions. It does a disservice to Inter’s players, who cannot be praised enough for their wonderful collective display of selflessness.

But we must also recognise that Mourinho is the one who shapes it all. He is a master at forging team spirit – the same spirit he imbued in his teams at Chelsea and Porto. Siege mentality, paranoia, histrionics – these are the psychological weapons of warfare Mourinho loves to take into the big battles, and often it works.

Psychologically speaking, whether it was the 3-1 1st leg defeat, the ‘we can come back’ campaign cranked up so rampantly by the Catalan press, the carrot of a Bernabeu final or Mourinho the ’snitch’’s sheer presence alone, Barça were desperate. Mourinho described it as “their obsession.” Did all this create in Barça a more hurried, less calm style that ultimately brought to a conclusion their reign as European champions?

Who knows. But, in an unconventional way, what a fantastic semi-final.

Champions League, Europe, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Jose Mourinho, Samuel Eto\'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic