For those of you who are familiar with the Senegalese-American R&B artist Akon, you will be well aware that every song he makes always sounds the same. Watching Barcelona and Inter over the last few years has been like listening to a new Akon song, only that in the case of the Spaniards it is nearly always a pleasurable experience.It was no different tonight at Camp Nou, as Inter managed to remind everyone why modern R&B as championed by Akon is such a horrible genre, and Barcelona showed us what real music sounds like.
The Nerazzurri were outplayed from start to finish by a Barcelona team missing their two biggest names in Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Blaugrana enjoyed 60 per cent of the possession, racked up 10 shots to Inter’s five and six corners to three, and played more than two thirds of the game in their opponents half.
These statistics, and perhaps the scoreline, would have looked far worse for Inter had Barcelona not taken their foot off the gas in the second half in preparation for this weekend’s Clasico against Real Madrid.
It took until the 35th minute for Inter to even attempt a shot, at which point the game was already over, while half time was just three minutes away when Victor Valdes finally had to make a routine save from Diego Milito. The Italians created virtually nothing all night, and only semi-troubled the Barca backline on a couple of occasions when Samuel Eto’o attempted to run through unsuccessfully.
Losing 2-0 at Camp Nou is no disgrace, and it must be taken into account that three-quarter link Wesley Sneijder was missing, but the difference in quality between Barcelona and Inter was overwhelming. You got the impression that if these two clubs were to play 100 times over two legs, Barcelona would win 99 of them.
Jose Mourinho even admitted after the game that there was a “huge gap” in class between the two teams, stressing “individual” talent as a big factor. The Portuguese is absolutely right as Inter have no one who can match the technical ability of Xavi and Andres Iniesta, who were unplayable at times along with blossoming youngster Pedro who scored perhaps goal of the night in Europe after a flowing one-touch team move.
Fortunately for Inter, the tie between Rubin Kazan and Dinamo Kiev means that they need only beat the former to guarantee qualification; or draw less than 2-2 providing that Barcelona do not lose to Dinamo. As for Barca, they will progress unless they lose to Dinamo by two goals or more.
It is highly likely that both Barcelona and Inter will now qualify for the next round, but based on tonight’s evidence the Beneamata’s chances of making any impact in the latter stages of the Champions League look very slim.
Reviewed by Unknown
on
1:47 PM
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