Champions League: Barcelona v Internazionale
With Internazionale taking a two goal advantage into the match, their fans seem to be relaxed and confident of containing the Spanish champions as they soak up the atmosphere in the city before the game Photograph: Stephen Pond/Empics Sport Whilst the Italian fans seem cool, calm and collected, this Barca fan is displaying his emotions for all to see Photograph: Reuters Photograph: guardian.co.uk The Camp Nou is full and the atmosphere is crackling with passion and tension. The latter has been increased by.... Photograph: Victor R. Caivano/AP ...yes, you guessed it, none other than Jose Mourinho who has been at his mind-games again by calling Barca "obsessed" with winning the Champions League in Madrid and also warning the referee Frank de Bleeckere to act on Barca's gamesmanship. Whether these comments have an effect on events during the game, we will have to wait and see.... Photograph: Reuters The first ten minutes has been a niggly affair and it's not long before the referee gets his yellow card out to penalize Inter's Thiago Motta for a trip on Barcelona's Dani Alves Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/guardian.co.uk Not only is it a niggly affair it's also a tight contest. Here Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita fights for the ball with Inter defenders Lucimar Lucio Da Silva Ferreira, left, and Walter Samuel Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images Ibrahimovic finds a smidgen of space as he controls the ball and then attempts to go past Motta, right, Samuel, left, and Zanetti Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters Maybe Mourinho was right about the obsession... Photograph: Stephen Pond/Empics Sport Maybe he was right about the gamesmanship too. In the 26th minute Thiago Motta raises his arm to ward off the attentions of Sergio Busquets and briefly catches him on the neck... Photograph: Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images ...but he goes down and rolls around as if he'd been on the receiving end of a right hook from David Haye. Seeing as he's already been booked, the referee gets out his red card and Motta is off Photograph: Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Lluis Gene/guardian.co.uk Before he finally leaves the field, Motta lets Sergio Busquets know in no uncertain terms what he thinks of his histrionics Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Photograph: Jasper Juinen/guardian.co.uk Never one afraid to use a bit of sarcasm, Jose Mourinho lets the Barca crowd and the linesman know what he thinks of their involvement in the sending off.. Photograph: Antonio Calanni/AP Photograph: Antonio Calanni/guardian.co.uk ...and then gives Dani Alves a piece of his mind... Photograph: Alberto Estevez/EPA Photograph: Alberto Estevez/guardian.co.uk ...before getting into a shrug-off with the Barcelona defender Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters Barcelona's Maxwell is held back by Alberto Milito Diego Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images With Barca having most of the possession and creating most of the chances so far, Inter defender Maicon implores his team mates to concentrate and keep an eye on the runs of Barcelona forwards Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images Little Lionel Messi manages to out-jump Petr Cech, no sorry, it's Cristian Chivu doing his impression of the Chelsea keeper Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images This time Chivu gets beaten to the ball by Yaya Toure Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images Barcelona forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic is having another one of his ineffectual games and despite climbing all over the back of Lucio he still can't get get to the ball before Julio Cesar comes out to claim it Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images Another Barcelona forward who is performing below par is Lionel Messi. Again he has been marked out of the game, meaning his jinking little runs have been kept to a minimum and his shots have failed to cause Julio Cesar any problems Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/guardian.co.uk In the 83rd minute Messi puts in a great cross towards an unmarked Krkic on the edge of the six-yard box who then proceeds to head the ball wide when it would have been easier to score. A woeful miss Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images With the clock ticking down and the Barca forward line spurning a whole host of good chances to find the net, it's down to a defender to show them how it's done. Gerard Pique picks up a defence splitting pass from Xavi, draws Julio Cesar out towards him then turns on a sixpence and slots the ball home from 12 yards Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters Then in the first minute of injury time the ball eventually finds it's way through a mellee of players in to the area where a grateful Bojan Krkic fires the ball high into the Inter net... Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images ...but just when the Barca players and fans inside Camp Nou and the millions watching thought they had witnessed a fairy tale finish to the match, the whistle goes and their hearts are broken as the referee disallows the goal because of a hand ball by Barcelona's Yaya Toure in the build up. It is a tad harsh as he didn't deliberately handle it, the ball hit his hand as it was cleared but the ref had to give it rules are rules. To give them credit, the Barca players didn't complain about the decision even though it could deny them a place in the final Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images In the remaining three minutes Barcelona continue to probe but their attacks come to nothing and then the final whistle goes. Barcelona are out and Inter are through to the final. It's their first European Cup/Champions League final for 38 years when they lost 2-0 to Ajax, and it's been 45 years since they last won the trophy Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters Messi can't believe it and looks shell-shocked Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images Mourinho on the other hand is jubilant and dashes onto the pitch a la David Pleat. After grappling with Barca keeper Victor Valdes, very un-Pleat like, he makes it over to the Inter fans and celebrates infront of them Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images A victory which must taste all the sweeter for former Barcelona player Samuel Eto'o Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images A famous cliche states that football is a game of two halves, but tonight it is also a tale of two cities, with despair and sadness amongst the fans in Barcelona... Photograph: Alberto Estevez/EPA ...contrasted with joy and happiness at Duomo square in Milan Photograph: Milo Sciaky/EPA
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