FC Barcelona are set to play their biggest game since 2019 tonight. The Catalan club is embarking on a difficult away trip to the San Siro, where they need to find a way to beat Serie A defending champions Inter Milan and book a place in the final of the UEFA Champions League.
Hansi Flick has done a brilliant job of building an excellent winning project at Barcelona, and the team has already lifted the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa del Rey trophies. The team also holds a 4-point lead in La Liga and is one game away from their first UCL final since 2015.
The first leg between the two sides took place at the Montjuic, and it played out as an exciting 3-3 draw, with both sides having numerous chances. Defensively, the Catalan side were not at their best, and Inter made the most of it.
Hansi Flick will be looking to correct all these mistakes ahead of the second leg, where there is no room for error. With all this in mind, we at Sempre Barca bring to you three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Inter Milan at San Siro.
1: The ghosts of the past
8th May 2019. “Corner taken quickly… Origi!” – Words that still haunt every Barcelona fan to this day. It was a dark day in the history of this beautiful club that went on to shape their future for the worse for the next five seasons.
The ghosts of Anfield have still not been exorcised, and for the first time since that fateful day, Barcelona find themselves in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final. Back then, they took a 3-0 lead to Anfield and yet found a way to squander it.
Now, though, Barcelona go to San Siro with no advantage, with the first leg ending in a 3-3 draw. That said, this Hansi Flick team is built differently and is the definition of mentality monsters. The team has performed beyond expectations this season.
In Milan tonight, Barcelona, and Hansi Flick have a glorious chance to exorcise the ghosts of the past and move on, once and forever. It would mean the world for this club to be back in the final of the Champions League, and let’s wait and see how it plays out.
2: The full-back conundrum ahead of Barcelona vs Inter Milan
If you take a look at the Barcelona squad this season, there are only two positions where the drop-off in quality between the starters and the backup options is night and day. With all due respect to Gerard Martin and Hector Fort, it is the full-back positions.
As luck may have it, going into the biggest game of their season, Barcelona will be without both Balde and Kounde against Inter Milan at the San Siro, with the duo missing out with injuries. Hansi Flick has a major question on who to start in these positions.
At right-back, it is highly unlikely for Fort to be trusted in a game of this magnitude, and Eric Garcia is likely to fill in, like he did in the first leg at the Montjuic. The only other viable option would be starting Ronald Araujo.
It is at left-back that things get interesting. Up until the first leg against Inter, it has been Gerard Martin filling in at that position whenever Balde has missed a game. However, there is a good chance Hansi Flick decides to start Inigo Martinez there tonight to accommodate Araujo in the starting XI.
3: Has Flick devised a set-piece threat solution?
Barcelona dominated in open play against Inter Milan at the Montjuic, but struggled to defend set-pieces. Inter’s incredible physical dominance overpowered the Catalan side, and they managed to score two goals from corners.
The Catalan club’s marking left a lot to be desired on the night, with Dani Olmo marking Denzel Dumfries during corners. It cannot be the case in the second leg at the San Siro, and Flick is likely to have devised a plan for the same.
One obvious positive for Barcelona in this regard would be the return of Robert Lewandowski, who is excellent aerially, and the other option could probably be the plan of starting Ronald Araujo, who has the physicality to help Flick’s team.
If there is one thing we have known about Flick and his team this season, it is that they have hardly ever committed the same mistake twice, and the German coach will surely have come up with a plan to help his team defend set-pieces. Let’s wait and see how it plays out.
