Tempers flared between Barcelona and Inter Milan as an alleged spitting incident occurred between two rival defenders.
After Hakan Calhanoglu put Inter 2-0 up within the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie and 5-3 ahead on aggregate, centre-back Francesco Acerbi was running back to his own half when Barcelona’s Inigo Martinez appeared to spit in his direction.
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Nonetheless, the alleged incident was not picked up by VAR.
Had VAR clocked it, Martinez can have been sent off given spitting at an opposition player is deemed an offence worthy of a red card.
Acerbi continued to protest and he pointed within the direction of a Barcelona player.
The irate Italian needed to be held back by Barcelona’s Pedri and teammates as referee Szymon Marciniak moved to calm things down.
Martinez then picked up Barcelona’s first booking of the evening within the 51st minute when he chopped down Marcus Thuram.
However the visitors soon flipped the script on the evening within the space of six blistering minutes.
Defender Eric Garcia halved the deficit within the 54th minute before Dani Olmo netted the equaliser on the hour mark.
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick opted to play it secure as he brought Martinez off within the 76th minute instead of Ronald Araujo.
Barcelona accomplished the comeback within the 87th minute when Raphinha slotted home the rebound after his initial effort was kept out by Yann Sommer.
It took the Brazilian winger’s Champions League tally to 13 this term, only one fewer than Lionel Messi‘s record haul within the competition for Barcelona.
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Yet there was one final twist in regular time when Acerbi fired home Denzel Dumfries’ low cross within the third minute of stoppage-time.
Acerbi picked up a yellow card for his troubles as he whipped off his shirt in celebration.
Superstar winger Lamine Yamal had a wonderful likelihood to attain the newest of winners, but his toe-poke was kept out by Sommer.
It proved to be a costly miss as Inter re-took the lead within the 99th minute via Davide Frattesi.
Substitute forward Mehdi Taremi played the ball into Frattesi’s feet and the midfielder produced a clinical finish contained in the box to place Inter 4-3 ahead on the night and 7-6 on aggregate.
Yamal once more got here inside inches of scoring but was denied twice by two top-drawer saves from Sommer.
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Frattesi’s strike in extra-time proved to be the decisive blow, as Inter punched their ticket to the Champions League final in Munich on May 31.
It marked the second time within the last three seasons the Italian giants have reached the Champions League final and they’ll look to go one higher than their effort in 2023 once they lost to Manchester City.
Inter will meet either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in Munich, with the Parisians holding a 1-0 aggregate lead going into the second leg on Wednesday.
Hearken to full commentary of PSG vs Arsenal on Wednesday night, survive talkSPORT.
