Polish star Robert Lewandowski kept Barcelona's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League final, after scoring a double that contributed to a difficult draw against Inter Milan.
And at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, the Catalan club faced its Italian guest on Wednesday in Group C matches, and “Barca” took the initiative to score through its star Osman Dembele in the 40th minute, but Inter responded with two goals through Nicolo Barilla and Lautaro Martinez in the 50th and 63rd minutes, respectively. Lewandowski equalized in the 82nd minute.
The excitement continued in the match, after Robin Gossens re-advanced Inter by scoring the third goal for the Italian team in the 89th minute, but Lewandowski once again gave Barcelona hope to rise by scoring the third goal in the second minute of stoppage time.
⚽️🔥 Lewandowski revives Barcelona's hopes with a great goal #Champions League |
#Barcelona_Inter #UCL |
#beINUCL pic.twitter.com/kMio3nykyT
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) October 12, 2022
Bayern Munich, who beat its Czech host Viktoria Plzen 4-2, secured qualification from Group C after raising its score to 12 points, to achieve the full mark by winning all its first four matches.
The Bavarian team outperformed its closest rival, Inter, by 5 points, while Barcelona remained in third place with 4 points, and Victoria Plzen remained at the bottom of the standings with no points.
Inter's victory in yesterday's match was enough for the Italian team to rise to the playoffs with two rounds left, and overthrow Barcelona's hopes of continuing the competition.
Until last year, Barcelona qualified at least to the final price of the Champions League every season since 2001, but now it faces the possibility of moving to the European League competition for the second consecutive season.
Barcelona Champions League Qualification Calculations
Barcelona's hopes of qualifying are linked to the results of Inter Milan in the next two rounds, provided that the Spanish team wins in both rounds against Bayern Munich and Victoria Plzen.
After winning in his next two matches, Barcelona must wait for Inter to stumble and not achieve more than two points in his remaining two matches, because the Italian club’s 10 points automatically mean the end of Barcelona’s journey, due to Inter’s preference in direct confrontations after its first leg victory over Barcelona 1-0.
The result of yesterday's match disappointed the Catalan club's fans before the expected "El Clasico" summit with arch rivals Real Madrid next Sunday, in the ninth round of the Spanish Football League.
🤔 What did Pique want to do in this shot??!!
⚽️🔥 Nicolo Barilla equalizes the score for the guests and increases Barcelona's troubles #Champions League |
#Barcelona_Inter #UCL |
#beINUCL pic.twitter.com/jk4E1XHirV
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) October 12, 2022
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez admitted that he does not have time to think about a draw with Inter Milan, as the team's attention must be fully focused on the Clasico match.
"The Inter game was under control and in the 50th minute there was a very clear defensive error. Then another mistake and in the end the team paid a heavy price. Maybe in the league something happens and you don't pay a high price for it, but the Champions League is ruthless. Now it's not in our hands, the league," he told reporters. The European champions have become very difficult and complicated for us."
"We hope that this does not affect us psychologically," Hernandez added. "We continue to work with confidence and prepare for the summit against Real, and we need to recover well because we put in a lot of physical effort."
Barcelona leads the Spanish league with a goal difference from Real with 22 points.