BARCELONA, Spain — Internazionale coach Simone Inzaghi lauded Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal as a phenomenon who comes along once every 50 years after his side’s enthralling 3-3 Champions League semifinal first leg draw at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
Inter raced to an unexpected 2-0 lead inside 21 minutes through goals from Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries but were pegged back before halftime by a Yamal-inspired Barça on the 17-year-old’s 100th appearance for the club.
Yamal scored Barça’s first with a stunning solo effort, with Ferran Torres then levelling before Dumfries’ second goal of the night and a Yann Sommer own goal left the tie all square heading into the second leg at the San Siro next Tuesday.
“I’m proud to see how a fantastic team of players came here and produced that performance against the most attacking, in-form team in the world,” Inzaghi said in a postgame news conference. “Barça have a player [Yamal] who is difficult to stop. We started well, but in the last 25 minutes of the first half he created a lot of problems.
“He is a player I had not seen live before and we had to double up on him. He is a phenomenon born every 50 years. He really impressed me today.”
Yamal’s goal, his 15th of the season, lifted the mood of the home fans after a difficult start. He also hit the crossbar twice, tormented left back Federico Dimarco and created several chances for his teammates.
The teenager’s performance was all the more remarkable given there had been doubts before the game over his fitness after feeling some muscle pain during warmups.
“He felt [something] a little bit, but everything was checked and he had the green light [to play],” Barça coach Hansi Flick said.
“I think Lamine, in the first half, was so important for us because he created a lot of positive things and scored the first goal. In the big matches he shows his quality.
“I think he’s special. He’s a genius. I think he also enjoys the situation of these big occasions. I am really happy that this talent who comes every 50 years can play for Barcelona.”
Barça needed all of Yamal’s genius against an Inter side who, despite losing their past three games in all competitions, took the game to them at times.
Thuram opened the scoring after only 30 seconds and Dumfries doubled Inter’s lead from a corner after 21 minutes. Dumfries again scored from a set piece to restore their advantage after Barça had fought back.
The Serie A side could have won the game after Raphinha’s long range effort rebounded in off Sommer’s back to draw Barça level at 3-3.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan had an effort ruled out for offside and Pau Cubarsí made brilliant challenge denying Thuram a goal-scoring opportunity, while Yamal hit the bar for Barça and Sommer denied Raphinha with a finger-tip save.
“Inter have played together for five years, you can see that,” Flick said. “The way they switch sides, they have fast players, their set pieces are exceptional. They are a really good team.
“We know they are one of the best teams in Europe at set pieces. When you see how tall they are, but we have to defend them better. We will go for it next week. A final before the final.”
Both teams suffered injury setbacks. Barça lost right back Jules Koundé in the first half and Inter captain Lautaro Martínez was taken off at halftime.
Inzaghi says Martínez is a major doubt to make the second leg Tuesday but that even without the Argentina striker, Barça know they are in for a fight.
“It will be difficult, like this game,” he said. “There were excellent periods tonight and spells when we suffered, because we were up against a team like Barça.
“But they have also realized they are up against a great Inter side who hard really hard to beat.”
The winners will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in the final in Munich on May 31. PSG won the first leg of that tie 1-0 in London on Tuesday.