From Julio’s save to the final embraces: 10 unforgettable moments from Barcelona vs. Inter

MILAN – Ten years ago, ten great moments. On 28 April 2010, Inter gained access to the Champions League Final after losing 1-0 to Barcelona: they would then face Bayern Munich in Madrid on 22 May. That evening, at the Camp Nou, in front of almost 100,000 spectators, Inter played a match that went down in history for various reasons and episodes such as Thiago Motta’s red card for contact on Busquets, Julio Cesar’s save to deny Messi, Piqué’s goal, Bojan’s goal that was ruled out, the resolute Nerazzurri defence until the end (watch the highlights here) and the final celebrations, with the Camp Nou sprinklers bathing the Nerazzurri joy. Let’s relive that great match with 10 moments we’ll never forget.

1. REMUNTADA AND “Ens hi deixarem la pell!”

After the 3-1 defeat at San Siro, Barcelona made a great push to rally the culé fans before the second leg. The blaugrana made an emotional video starring Puyol and his teammates declaring: “We have a dream, to reach the final in Madrid. We want la remuntada” as well as the famous phrase “Ens hi deixarem la pell!”: we’ll give everything we’ve got! A slogan that José Mourinho transformed at the end of the game: “They left their skin, my boys left their blood.”

2. PANDEV’S INJURY DURING THE WARM-UP: CHIVU THE REPLACEMENT

Cristian Chivu told us about it recently in his letter to Inter fans: he was due to be on the bench, but instead he was called up in a hurry because Pandev suffered an injury during the warm-up. Chivu went out to warm up on his own, in front of the Barcelona fans whistling at him. Mourinho didn’t change his tactical plan and lined up the Romanian on the left of midfield in a 4-2-3-1, with Eto’o on the right. Chivu’s task was to contain Dani Alves, but soon the tactics changed and had to play left-back after Thiago Motta’s sending off. Chivu was the only Inter player to register a shot on Victor Valdes’ goal with a long-range free kick.

3. CONTACT WITH BUSQUETS AND THIAGO MOTTA’S RED CARD

The turning point of the match occurred in the 28th minute as Thiago Motta, already on a yellow, was on the ball in his own half when he felt Busquets’ pressure: he spread out his arm to shield the ball and touched the blaugrana midfielder’s neck, who collapsed in a heap. Whilst laying on the ground, Busquets took a sneak peek at the situation whilst Dutch referee De Bleeckere goes to Motta and shows him the red card. Inter were down to ten only 30 minutes into the match.

4. JULIO CESAR’S SAVE TO DENY MESSI

When the clock showed 33 minutes, Julio Cesar performed what is probably the greatest, most difficult and most important save of his extraordinary career. Leo Messi (who had never scored against Inter) picked up the ball on the right, zipped past Zanetti, evaded Samuel’s challenge and unleashed his classic left-footed curler towards the bottom corner. Julio Cesar’s dive was phenomenal as he flung himself at full stretch to turn the ball round the post with his fingertips. An unbelievable save.

5. THE DEFENSIVE SKILLS OF SAMUEL ETO’O

Among the details of that match at the Camp Nou which we remember vividly, Samuel Eto’o sacrificed himself for the side and played brilliantly. Since March, in the round of 16 second leg against Chelsea, Mourinho had been predominantly opting for a 4-2-3-1 in the Champions League. But with Motta’s red card, Inter had to play a 4-4-1 at the Camp Nou with Eto’o wide left having to do a lot of defensive covering.

6. MOURINHO RINGS THE CHANGES: MUNTARI, CORDOBA, MARIGA

A match of total sacrifice. With the team down to ten, Mourinho shut up shop in the second half: the first change was to bring on Muntari for Sneijder in the 67th minute. With Barcelona ramping up the pressure, he then brought on Ivan Cordoba for Milito in the 81st minute, who went on to create a back five three minutes before Piqué’s goal. Two minutes after that goal, Mourinho replaced an exhausted Eto’o with McDonald Mariga, who had just scored his first Nerazzurri goal against Atalanta in the league. The Kenyan midfielder helped to provide another brick in Mourinho’s defensive wall. In the final minutes Mariga made himself the protagonist of another small episode within that match as he closed down Jeffren, recovered the ball with his “longlegs”, as the Sky commentator said, and won a foul to let Inter breathe again.

7. BOJAN’S GOAL RULED OUT

In added time, the Nerazzurri fans’ dreams seemed to vanish for a moment. Between the 92nd and 93rd minute the Camp Nou exploded with a deafening cry: “GOOOOOL”. But in the chaos of that stadium, nobody had heard De Bleeckere’s whistle, who had already stopped the game before Bojan slotted it past Julio Cesar. In a duel with Samuel, Keita had handled the ball, which had subsequently allowed Bojan to run through on goal. The danger had passed.

8. MOURINHO AND ORIALI’S RUN

One memory that is forever etched in fans’ memories at the final whistle was José Mourinho and Gabriele Oriali’s dash across the pitch to salute the Nerazzurri fans, despite Victor Valdes’ attempted intervention.

9. THE SPRINKLERS ON THE PITCH

The images of Inter’s part on Barcelona’s pitch will go down in history, because after the whistle and while the Nerazzurri players embraced each other, exhausted from the match, the sprinklers on the pitch turned on. The photos of those moments are unforgettable: the players’ total elation and those jets of water among which the Nerazzurri ran like happy children.

10. THE PARTY IN THE STANDS AND POST-MATCH COMMENTS

Massimo Moratti’s joy at the final whistle displayed genuine ecstasy, but he immediately composed himself and embraced the opponents' President, Laporta. “Sacrifice”, “happiness”, “deserved” and “dream” were among the words repeated by the players after the match. And the catchphrase after that game remains in the memory: “For us this is a dream, not an obsession.”