The season started brightly for Barcelona, they were out of financial troubles, they brought in many good players led by Robert Lewandowski, they are undefeated in La Liga and all of the sudden, in the 89th minute of the match with Inter Milan, they were on the brink of elimination from the group phase of the Champions League. Robin Gosens scored for Inter’s lead 3-2 which would mean an end to Barca’s competition in Europe’s strongest competition three games before the end of the group competition. When he signed this summer for Barcelona, that’s not what Lewa had in mind. He wanted the Champions League trophy, but so far, he had to score twice in late hours and save his team from relegation: Barcelona – Inter 3-3.Robert Lewandowski’s game by numbers:18 touches in opposition box10 duels won8 shots4 shots on target4 fouls won3 clearances2 chances created2 goals0.68 xGBarcelona’s saviour. 👑 pic.twitter.com/WNRhdsTm2d— Squawka (@Squawka) October 12, 2022 However, even the Pole cannot create any miracles, as the Catalonians are now depending on Inter losing at home to Victoria Plzen, which is basically an impossible mission. So, Lewa only postponed the inevitable – Barcelona’s elimination from the group stage and financial plight again. Nobody expected this at Camp Nou. In fact, fragile economical stability was based on a prediction that Barca will go a long way in the Champions League, thus earning more money from tickets and more wins, but now it’s not gonna happen. They have budgeted this season for a minimum quarter-finals place in the Champions League, but that seems like a fairytale now.When you hear that you can send Barcelona back to Europa League again. pic.twitter.com/bCRP1MOkvK— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) October 12, 2022 Not only did they get a draw tonight, but they might also have lost, only if the unpredictable Inter team didn’t miss their chances, and they had two massive ones deep in injury time. Barca did win against Celta prior to this match, but it was a narrow 1-0 win in which the Catalonians had to overcome four fantastic chances by the visitors. Xavi should have been worried by his side’s display against Celta, and now he is faced with an early elimination.Barca’s necessity to win the game has obviously caused some nervousness which is unlikely for them, Inter couldn’t use it, even thou they had two big opportunities to do that. The first one was in the 16th minute when Hakan Calhanoglu took a free kick and the ball fell perfectly to Dzeko, who smashed it off the crossbar from close range. 10 minutes later, Barella took the ball at midfield and organized a quick three-on-two counterattack. The ball ended up with the right wing-back Dumfries, but he is not a striker and managed only to shoot straight at Ter Stegen. And just as the first half was gonna end, Inter’s defense allowed Raphinha to take the ball near the corner flag, Mkhitaryan failed to intercept the pass to Roberto and he found Dembele at the goal area – 1:0 Barcelona.But Inter replied perfectly in the second half with three goals and suddenly Barca found themselves in front of the abyss. Nicolo Barella sneaked in behind experienced Pique who let the ball fall behind him, and the Italian took it and scored for the equalizer. But the real shock followed when Lautaro Martinez used a great Calhanoglu assist and smashed the ball into the net for an unexpected 2-1. Barca started to siege Onana’s goal, but Dembele took Xavi’s comments about him too seriously, stopped assisting his teammates, and tried to finish the actions himself, which resulted in no goals. Luckily for Xavi, Lewandowski’s shot in the 82nd minute was precise and Barca got a needed point for the hope.But Barca’s coach needed all three points and with only three defenders and everybody in attack, Inter’s reserve player Gosens scored from a counterattack for a shocking 3-2 in the 89th minute, before Lewa scored again for the final 3-3. But Inter still had two ’must score’ chances in injury time. First, it was Aslani, who failed to assist and then Ter Stegen saved Gosen’s shot in the last second of the game.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – GROUP STAGERound 4Tuesday Maccabi Haifa – Juventus 2-0 (2-0)/Atzili 7, 42/Copenhagen – Man.City 0-0Shakhtar – Real Madrid 1-1 (0-0)/Zubkov 46 – Rudiger 90+4/Dortmund – Sevilla 1-1 (1-1)/Bellingham 35 – Nianzou 18/AC Milan – Chelsea 0-2 (0-2)/Jorginho 21 pen, Aubameyang 34/PSG – Benfica 1-1 (1-0)/Mbappe 40 pen – Joao Mario 62 pen/Celtic – RB Leipzig 0-2 (0-0)/Werner 75, Forsberg 84/Dinamo Zagreb – Salzburg 1-1 (0-1)/Ljubicic 41 – Seiwald 12/Wednesday Napoli – Ajax 4-2 (2-0)/Lozano 4, Raspadori 16, Kvaratskhelia 62, Osimhen 89 – Klaassen 49, Bergwijn 83/Atl.Madrid – Club Brugge 0-022.00: (2.55) Sporting (3.40) Olympique Marseille (3.00)22.00: (8.00) Rangers (5.30) Liverpool (1.43)22.00: (1.58) Tottenham (4.30) Eintr.Frankfurt (6.75)22.00: (2.35) Leverkusen (3.50) Porto (3.25)22.00: (1.48) Barcelona (4.70) Inter (8.00)22.00: (15.0) Plzen (8.50) Bayern (1.18)***odds are subject to change
