Big Match Feature: Barcelona v Inter Milan

Inter Milan find themselves in turbulent waters as they face Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals. Once dreaming of a historic treble, Inter’s season has unravelled, leaving them without a win in their last three games in which they have failed to even find the back of the net. 

Catch the action live on SuperSport from 8pm CAT.

This daunting Wednesday showdown at Camp Nou couldn't come at a worse time. A string of stumbles has seen Napoli pull ahead in Serie A and arch-rivals AC Milan deliver a crushing 3-0 defeat in the Italian Cup.

Can Inter rediscover their form, or will Barcelona seize the chance to deepen their woes? The stakes couldn’t be higher!

INTER MILAN ARE THE OUTLIERS

You may have noticed the absence of any Inter Milan mentions among the final four so far, and there’s a good reason for that. Like all innovations within sporting competition, this Inter team zig where others have zagged.

Though the semifinals may be littered with young stars, Inter are at the other end of the spectrum; built on an experienced core of players who stand out for their collective brilliance. Simone Inzaghi’s side are the oldest of the 36 teams involved in the 2024-25 edition, with a starting XI average age of 30 years and 13 days.

And should Inter go all the way this season, they’ll certainly be able to say they did it their way. As it stands, they would be the oldest team ever to win the Uefa Champions League – in terms of the average age of their starting XI – taking the record from José Mourinho’s Inter side of 2009-10 (29y 358d).

WHAT THE STATS SAY

Barcelona and Inter have faced each other on 16 previous occasions in Europe, with the Spanish side winning exactly half of those (W8 D5 L3). They are winless in the most recent two, however, which came in the group stages of the 2022-23 Uefa Champions League (0-1 away, 3-3 at home).

This will be just the second time Barcelona and Inter have met in the knockout stages of the European Cup/Uefa Champions League, with both coming precisely at the semifinal stage. The previous one – played in 2009-10 – saw José Mourinho’s Inter eliminate the reigning champions 3-2 on aggregate (3-1 at the Giuseppe Meazza, 0-1 at the Camp Nou).

Barcelona are unbeaten in their six home games against Inter in the Uefa Champions League (W5 D1). Those five home wins against them are their joint-most against an opponent in Uefa Champions League/European Cup (also five v AC Milan), while the only team they’ve hosted more often in the competition without losing is Chelsea (7).

Barcelona haven’t lost any of their six home matches in the Uefa Champions League this season (W5 D1), while scoring 21 goals in the process. Only in the 1999/2000 edition have they ever netted more at home in a single European Cup/Uefa Champions League campaign (29 in eight games).

Barcelona are averaging 3.1 goals per game under Hansi Flick in the Uefa Champions League; the second-most by a manager-club duo with 10+ games, after Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich (3.2). Meanwhile, Inter could equal the record for most clean sheets by an Italian team in a Champions League campaign (currently on eight), held by AC Milan in 2004-05 and Juventus in 2016-17 (both 9).

Inter manager Simone Inzaghi is set to take charge of his 50th Uefa Champions League match here, becoming the seventh Italian coach to reach this milestone; the most for any nation (currently level with Spain on six). His 26 wins are already the most by an Italian manager through their first 50 Champions League matches (one ahead of Marcello Lippi, 25).

Ahead of his 25th appearance, Barcelona’s Raphinha has been directly involved in 26 goals in the Uefa Champions League to date (15 goals, 11 assists in 24 appearances). Only two players in the competition’s history have more goal contributions through their first 25 games: Erling Haaland (36) and Luis Suárez (28).

Lautaro Martínez has scored in each of his last five appearances for Inter in the Uefa Champions League. If he finds the net here, he’ll be just the second South American player to score in six consecutive outings in the competition, after Edinson Cavani (seven between November 2016 and October 2017).

Barcelona wingers Lamine Yamal and Raphinha have combined for more goals than any other duo in the Uefa Champions League this season (5), while they’ve also created the most chances between one another of any teammate pairing (16 – eight each). (See graphic on page 8)

Inter’s Nicolò Barella has averaged more progressive passes per 90 (7.1) than any other player in the Uefa Champions League this season (min. 500 minutes played). Similarly, he has the highest progressive pass percentage of any central midfielder in the competition this term (12 per cent - also min. 500 minutes).