There was a moment halfway through the second half of the European Cup semi-final that best encapsulates the devil and the detail of Jose Mourinho. Christian Chivu went down in apparent injury and went to the sideline for treatment. The special one left his technical area to deliver yet more instructions before he was accosted by the referee who reminded Jose to stay in his area. That was the Inter motto for the night.
It started as expected, Barcelona’s famed cerebral game adopted a more scatter gun approach as the rush for the goals that could level the tie began from the first minute. Inter sprung the first surprise with Mourinho replacing Gordan Pandev with Christian Chivu minutes from kick-off. Jose also summoned the sprit of the last man the take Inter to Champions League glory; Helano Herrera in his tactics to stop Barca. Lionel Messi was tapped and hassled every time he touched the ball with the Camp Nou screeching any time an Inter player had the audacity to tackle him. Pedro Rodriguez starting on the left flashed the first shot in anger after three minutes wide of Julio Ceaser’s goal. A crude challenge from Thiago Motta on Messi after ten minutes earned the Brazilian a yellow card, a card that was rendered meaningless by his subsequent red. Inter at this point were reduced to the scavenging of Diego Milito upfront, with Wesley Sneijder tolling manfully but struggling to make a mark. Barca were in complete control in the possession stakes but their clever narrow passing inevitably came unstuck in front of the durable Inter back-four. On two occasion’s Danni Alves managed to scurry free down the right and from the resulting crosses Pedro smashed a volley wide while Ibrahamovic managed to wriggle free from Samuel before being crowded out. The flash point of the red-card occurred soon after. Thiago Motta shielding the ball inside the Barca half raised his hand to the face of Sergio Busquets who fell to the ground dramatically, Motta received an unduly harsh straight red and his subsequent reaction-appearing to throttle Busquets-while not welcome was understandable in the face of such theatrics. Inter resumed their shape soon after and bar one coruscating moment from Messi, a turn and curling shot that was palmed wide, were comfortable going into the break.
The second half followed an eerily similar tone. Barca pressed, played their football and Inter defended with utter ease. Messi was dropping further deep in an attempt to gain some kind of penetrative control on the match but the result was that he and the equally subdued Xavi kept swapping passes with each other right in front of a diligent Estabian Cambiasso.. The woefully ineffective Ibrahamovic was substituted after an hour to give way for Bojan and it was the youngster who had the best chance of the half at that point meeting a lobbed Messi pass before heading wide with ten minutes left. Pep Guardiola now in desperation sent Gerard Pique upfront and it was the centre-half that restored hope for the Catalans when he latched onto a Xavi pass, spun quite wonderfully away from Ivan Cordoba before slamming the ball home. Barcelona now only needing one with five minutes to go suddenly began to find space. Both Messi and Xavi had shot’s saved by Caesar and deep in stoppage time Bojan had the ball in the net but it was disallowed for a handball in the build up.
That may have been harsh but no more so than the sending off. Inter saw out the game and had the prize of Madrid. Barca put on the water hoses at full time to douse the Italian celebration but one suspects Jose could have stifled them too if he wanted. He ran onto the turf at full-time, that is his area.
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