Simone Inzaghi, under pressure after already five defeats since the start of the season, found her Inter, made of defensive solidity and fighting spirit, to defend tooth and nail this short advantage in a meeting archi-dominated by the Catalans.

If qualification is still far from being in his pocket in this strong group, the Nerazzurro coach will enjoy a breath of fresh air thanks to Calhanoglu's goal just before the break, synonymous with second place with 6 points.

With two defeats, FC Barcelona, ​​now 3rd, will have to whip it.

He is forced to clear, next week in the return match against the Italians at Camp Nou, in what almost looks like the round of 16 to take the second ticket in the group, the first semblance promised to the ogre Bayern Munich.

As his coach Xavi had promised the day before, Barça took matters into their own hands.

In confidence, the undefeated leader of the Spanish Championship (six wins, one draw) confiscated the ball against Inter Milan grouped in front of the goal of André Onana, always preferred to Samir Handanovic in C1.

The perfect shot

Pedri and Gavi, Barça's under-20s, made a big splash in the middle, forcing Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to run behind the ball a lot, not really their specialty.

In the stands, the 71,000 tifosi nerazzurri held their breath with each passing of the legs and each thrust of Ousmane Dembélé in the corridor must.

But the French lacked precision on his shot in the small net (37th).

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Inter were waiting for the counterattacks, looking for Lautaro Martinez as quickly as possible, aligned at the forefront despite the muscle fatigue felt this weekend, in the prolonged absence of his friend Romelu Lukaku, injured since the end of August.

And it ended up succeeding for the Lombards: after a first distant attempt deflected by Marc-André ter Stegen (7th), Calhanoglu opened the scoring with a surgical strike close to the post (45 + 2nd).

At half-time, the Nerazzurri thus managed the perfect shot, leading despite a ball remaining in the feet of the Catalans for two-thirds of the time.

Goal disallowed in Barcelona

While we were expecting a lot of Catalan pressure on the way back from the locker room, Inter managed to remain calm, ever lower, ever more compact, but solid, far from the fragile team used to being pushed up in this start of the Serie A season.

Robert Lewandowski continued to wait in vain for the right ball, well muzzled by Milan Skriniar, captain of the day, as if to remind him of his importance at Inter while Paris-SG continues to be interested in him.

Dembélé tried his luck more on the left to try to destabilize the Nerazzurri and was not far from succeeding, finding the post (61st) on the first opening left by the Italian rearguard.

Barça believed to equalize in stride by Pedri (67th), taking advantage of a missed exit from Onana, but the VAR saved the Cameroonian goalkeeper by signaling to the referee a hand on the action of Ansu Fati, at hardly came into play.

Until the end of the eight minutes of additional time, the Catalans pushed, thinking of obtaining a penalty for a handball finally not sanctioned in the 90th minute, but without cracking Inter.

Inzaghi could raise his arms in relief in the sky, his Inter still has character and hope in C1.

© 2022 AFP