Hansi Flick’s Barcelona were shocked by Inzaghi’s Inter Milan at the Montjuic in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final. A match that Culers and neutrals thought would be a walkover for Barça turned into a back-and-forth encounter of strategies and counter-strategies that ended in a 3-3 draw. Here is how Inzaghi exploited Barça’s flaws and Hansi Flick’s men failed to exploit Inter’s plan’s loopholes.
How Inter Milan pressed
Inter used various pressing styles throughout the match, but there were some visible patterns. Dani Olmo often dropped deep in the midfield to create numerical superiority for Barça in the middle of the park. However, Inzaghi had tasked Alessandro Bastoni to follow Olmo into the midfield, which prevented him from being involved in the buildup.
Mkhitaryan was initially pressing Kounde and blocking any passing from him. Later on in the game, Dimarco placed himself higher up the pitch to press Kounde and stop the Frenchman from building from the back. This left a lot of space behind him, which Yamal could exploit. However, Inter’s midfield was disciplined in pressing and did not give enough space for Cubarsi or de Jong to play a long ball to Lamine.
On the left, the goalscorer Dumfries strictly man-marked Gerard Martin, allowing little time on the ball due to pressure. So, Gerard often played the ball back to Inigo Martinez, and Barcelona circulated the ball to the right for Lamine Yamal. Barella was tasked with blocking the passing lane to Raphinha, which only gave Inigo Martinez the option to drive forward himself.
After Gerard Martin was subbed out, Inigo Martinez played as the left back. This made things easier for the Italian side, as Raphinha now had to drop deeper to receive the ball. However, it did leave a hole in the half-space that Barcelona should have exploited.
How Barça could have taken advantage
Inter’s plan worked for most of the game, except for individual brilliance from Pedri and particularly Yamal. However, in my opinion, Inzaghi’s side was playing with fire, and it could have easily backfired for the Italian side. Inter’s main objective was to defend the middle of the pitch to prevent Barça from building through the middle. This tactic was risky as it left a hole of space behind when defenders moved into the midfield. Ferran Torres could have run into this space to punish Inter, but instead, the striker remained central, occasionally dropping into midfield.
Another strategy to aid the attack that Hansi Flick could have used is playing with attacking fullbacks. Kounde combines well with Yamal on the right, but can not take on defenders as much. Similarly, on the left, it was Gerard Martin and later Inigo Martinez. They can not carry the ball forward and make overlap/underlap runs with the wingers. Balde may feature in the second leg along with Hector Fort on the right. If that happens, Inter will have a far difficult game defending against Barça. The fullbacks, along with the wingers, can run into the space Inter’s tight man-marking leaves.
The second leg will be 90 long minutes or, as Flick said, ‘a final before the final’. Hansi Flick will have to make major changes to his tactics and improvise them throughout the match to get the desired result.