?Barcelona turned it around at Camp Nou on Wednesday, with Luis Suarez scoring both goals as they came from behind to topple Inter 2-1.
It was a night when Barça were by no means at their attacking best, with Lionel Messi showing the signs of his recent injury problems and Antoine Griezmann still struggling to settle in. Once Inter took a second-minute lead and settle in for 88 minutes of organisation, Ernesto Valverde’s side struggled to break I Nerazzurri down.
So, it was up to Luis Suarez and boy did he deliver, assisted – literally and metaphorically – by second-half substitute Arturo Vidal.
?Inter really caught Barcelona by surprise with their quick-fire opener, a rapidly-taken free kick bouncing between Barça and Inter players before it was slipped through to Lautaro Martinez to finish. This was the Milan side’s first goal at Camp Nou for 49 years and they defended it just as you would expect an Antonio Conte team to.
Barcelona huffed and puffed but they just couldn’t blow Inter’s house down. Mainly because they insisted on playing it through the congested central area of the pitch time and again. What was surprising was the ease with which Inter passed it through ?Barça on the counter attack, they weren’t hoofing long balls in behind.
Was this going to be another Champions League mistake for Valverde? His team have capitulated in the past but the loss to Liverpool was a huge disappointment, people were questioning whether the ghosts of Anfield were still lingering.
If they were, Arturo Vidal seemed on a one-man mission to exorcise them following his 53rd minute introduction. He began to link the Barcelona midfield with the attacking trio and they finally began to click.
It was Vidal’s cross that set up Suarez for a sweetly-struck volley Samir Handanovic had very little chance of saving – Barcelona were back in the game.
Messi might have been quiet on the night, but it was his trickery and fearsome presence that set up ?Suarez for his and Barcelona’s second. Simply the sight of the Argentine running towards them provoked an Inter lapse of concentration and Messi switched the ball to Suarez on the edge of the box to control and finish.
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