Novel of nobility: Inter and Barcelona, intertwined destinies | OneFootball

Although they only began to meet in the Champions League in the 2000s, Inter and Barcelona are two deeply connected teams. Their destinies started to intertwine in the past century, in the shape of two Ballon d'Or winners.

In 1961, the transfer of Luisito Suárez, named the best player in Europe the year before, allowed the Blaugrana to complete the construction of the Camp Nou, which had been on hold for seven years. In 1997, when Massimo Moratti paid the release clause of Ronaldo, otherwise known as O Fenômeno, the Catalan side didn't take it well and Inter dominated the European football headlines.

The first time the two clubs' paths crossed in the Champions League was in 2002/03. Their first meetings came in the Fairs Cup in 1959 and 1970. That season, it was perhaps a slightly less noted Barcelona side, but they got the better of Cuper's Inter with two talented Argentinians at their core: Saviola and Riquelme, both of whom would have their best spells elsewhere.

The Blaugrana won 3-0 at Camp Nou and, eight days later, the two sides played out a goalless draw at San Siro. That season, the Champions League had an unusual format, with two group stages, which saw teams qualify directly for the quarter-finals. Cuper's side progressed and then beat Valencia in a dramatic two-legged tie in the quarters, Antic's men, however, suffered defeat to Juventus in the same round.

You don't need to explain the 2009/10 season to any true Interista, who will remember every detail of the treble season. Of the 13 games that Inter played in the Champions League that season, four were against Barcelona. We should, however, add a bit of context to the situation for both sides. Barça had just achieved one of the most important feats in the club's history. Frank Rijkaard had begun a new cycle in football, guiding the Blaugrana to their first Champions League title in 14 years, playing some spectacular football, driven by the sheer class of Ronaldinho and Deco, as well as some hard men protecting them in Marquez and Van Bommel.

It was all done with a strange but effective front three: Ronaldinho in the form of his life, Frenchman Giuly and Samuel Eto'o. The Cameroonian was the complete striker: technical, tireless, ever-present. His part in this story is not done yet. The victory over Arsenal in the final in Paris in 2006 was the high point for a team that performed inconsistently at the top level. In the summer of 2008, Laporta became the club's Chairman and replaced the Dutch coach with the 37-year-old, who was in charge of the second team. Josep Guardiola, Pep to us all.

Catalan to the core, he won the Champions League as a player in 1992. His coach at the time was none other than Johan Cruyff, who taught Pep two important lessons. The first: you judge a player by how they receive the ball and how they distribute it. The second: you build a top side by adding and taking away. Pep got the job and, rather than adding, he began to take away. He took away Deco, who hadn't been performing at the same level as in seasons prior. He took away Ronaldinho, who was still a pure talent but somewhat off the pace. He intended to take away Eto'o as well, but the Cameroonian was resolute. He wanted to stay, he wanted to prove himself.

There weren't many arrivals in the transfer window, just Gerard Piqué, a product of La Masia who returned to the club from Manchester United. The replacements for Deco and Ronaldinho were already at the club. Their names? Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi, who had just had a 16-goal season.

In 1999, Manchester United won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League. The English press dubbed it The Treble. The Spanish translation: Triplete. Guardiola's Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, La Liga and the Champions League. The final was against United in Rome, and the opening goalscorer was a striker deployed out wide: one Samuel Eto'o.

Leo Messi, who scored 38 goals that season, played up front in an entirely new role: the false nine. How do you ruin a winning team? By changing it.

The change was enforced. Real Madrid, under Chairman Florentino Perez, had the answer to other teams' successes: big money moves in the transfer market. Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema, Kaká, and Cristiano Ronaldo all brought in. In Catalunya, they were looking for answers, and they settled on Inter's centre-forward. "Barcelona are playing the football of the future," Zlatan Ibrahimovic had said in an interview at the end of the season.

Ibra won three Scudetti at Inter: two under Roberto Mancini and one under José Mourinho. His style of play changed progressively during that time. In his first year with the Club, he practically played as a number 10 in behind an out-and-out striker, such as Crespo or Cruz. He didn't score many by his standards (15), but he was an unsolvable tactical riddle for opposing teams, who were forced to chase a technical star around the pitch, and one who stood at 1.95m, weighed in at 95kg and was built of muscle. His second season was heavily affected by injuries, but he returned at just the right time: half an hour of play against Parma on the final day was enough to score a brace and secure Inter's 16th Scudetto, one of their most dramatic and most brilliant.

With the arrival of the Portuguese head coach, Ibra's involvement became even more central to Inter's project. Alongside Maicon, he formed an unrivalled physical pairing in Serie A. The Swede also became more central on the pitch, as he was deployed through the middle. He began to beat any marker in any tactical set-up. He was simply unstoppable that year: 24 goals, top scorer, another Scudetto. In Europe, however, it was a different story. In their first season under Mourinho, Inter failed to win a not-so-difficult Champions League group and went out in the Round of 16 at the hands of Manchester United.

The class and power of Maicon and Ibrahimovic were not enough. Inter needed to add quality in midfield. The chance arrived and the Club's management emulated the intuition of Guardiola twelve months before: you need to take away in order to add. The first proposal in the overhaul in the summer of '09 came from Catalunya: €20 million plus Eto'o for Ibrahimovic. Inter's rebuffal was €30 million plus Iniesta, then we can talk. Silence on the other end of the line. A few weeks later, the phone rang again. 50 big ones plus Eto'o, done deal. Ibrahimovic, who had been on the stage in LA wearing the Nerazzurri's brand new kit just hours before, flew to Barcelona. Samuel Eto'o came the other way, with two Champions League titles and two final goals on his CV.

And what about the quality in midfield? Thiago Motta and Milito arrived from Genoa, but there was still something missing. The idea? Real needed to sell, and they had a Dutchman, who had just been stripped of the number 10 and threatened to have his locker cleared out. Wesley Sneijder moved to Milano and was the final piece of the puzzle. Different, less dependent on the centre-forward, talented.

The pots in Monte Carlo play funny tricks, and the two sides were drawn together in a group completed by Rubin Kazan and Dinamo Kyiv. The first meeting kicked off Group F, but it was a drab 0-0 draw at San Siro. Davide Santon had the only real good moment for the Nerazzurri, but he was cynically brought down by Yaya Touré, who was shown a yellow card. The 18-year-old Santon had come through the ranks at the Club. His promotion saw the departure of Brazilian left-back Maxwell. Which club did he join? Guess.

The rest of the group stage was a rollercoaster. Inter drew twice, away in Kazan and at home to Dinamo, then, with five minutes to go in Kyiv, the Nerazzurri were on the verge of elimination. Then, Sneijder and Milito completed a stunning late comeback. Barcelona recorded a shock defeat against Rubin and won their other two games. Then, it was time for the reverse fixture on 24 November. Barça only needed a draw, but a defeat would see them crash out. Guardiola rolled the dice: Messi and Ibra on the bench, a young Dani Alves and veterans in Henry and Keita starting. How did it finish? Slaughter: a 2-0 win for the hosts, but it could have been more.

Inter hardly saw the ball at Camp Nou, and the general feeling was that there were galaxies between the two sides, a gap that would take years to bridge. But, it was only months: flash forward, the two sides had a semi-final rematch.

Barcelona had just made it past Arsenal in the quarters, while Inter had overcome CSKA Moscow with two measured performances. The Nerazzurri didn't start poorly at San Siro, but the guests took an early lead, as Maxwell set up Pedro to open the scoring. 1-0, and it seemed like it would be a repeat of the group-stage meetings. However, the winds shifted. Inter exploded like the popping of a cork on a bottle of bubbly, or cava, as they drink along La Rambla. The fixture seemed cursed. Milito was flagged offside twice, both questionable decisions. He then came inches away from scoring on two occasions. But, it would be his night after all.

He set Sneijder free and the Dutchman beat Valdes. Then, he held it up and found Maicon, who stretched further than seemingly possible to turn it home. Finally, Milito got his own name on the scoresheet with perhaps the simplest goal in his career. Until then, Guardiola hadn't lost by more than one goal as Barcelona boss, that's more than 80 matches. Suddenly, he'd conceded three in 30 minutes, and it could've been more. After the Nerazzurri had made it 3-1, with San Siro in raptures, he sent on a defender, Abidal, for a striker, Ibrahimovic, in the hopes of limiting the damage and weathering the storm. The first leg did end 3-1, and the omen was a good one for the Blaugrana, who had conceded just five goals and scored 36 at home in the calendar year of 2009. All in all, a 2-0 win seemed like a simple task.

No Inter fan experienced the second leg as a logical, linear timeline of events. Rather, it was an experiment in timeline manipulation, in which time became a flat circle, as Nietzsche put it, and everything seemed to run in a loop.

The tifo at Camp Nou read "Remuntada", the dream of a comeback for a team that had been widely and firmly regarded as the best team in the world until that night at San Siro. Pandev got hurt during the warm-up, and Chivu donned his helmet and prepared for battle. Julio Cesar was booked for time-wasting in the first half, and every goal kick was a game of chicken with the referee. Busquets went down after a touch by Motta and, from the floor, watched on with glee as the Inter man was sent off. Ibrahimovic went over to talk to Guardiola and Mourinho attempted to butt in.

Reputable sources would quote him. You think the game is over, but it's a thousand miles away from being over. Mcdonald Mariga played a few minutes and became the second-most celebrated gambit in Italian history after Garpez in the movie Three Men and a Leg.

Then, the Camp Nou roared as Piqué scored late in the day.

The second roar was cut short as Bojan's goal was disallowed for handball against Yaya Touré.

The boys running, you don't know where, you don't know why but wait... It's over, it's over, Inter are going to Madrid.

It all lit up. Our boys celebrating, Interisti in disbelief. How that season ended and who won the Triplete is well documented by now.

A few years would pass before Inter and Barcelona met once more. And they met four times, split between 2018 and 2019, always in the group stage, which was a sign of the gap between the two teams. Barça had won another treble in the meantime (in 2015), and Messi had been joined by Neymar and Suarez. They were favourites to win everything, every season. Inter had only just made their return to the Champions League after seven long years away. The gap had grown too great. In the first year, they took just one point off the Blaugrana thanks to a late Icardi equaliser. In the second year, however, Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring, but Suarez overturned the Nerazzurri's lead. The reverse fixture only cemented the fact that the two sides were miles apart: Barcelona only named two regulars in the starting XI and still won at San Siro. Inter were knocked out at the group stage in both seasons.

The group-stage hoodoo seemed insurmountable for the Nerazzuri, but the magic of European nights has since returned under Simone Inzaghi. In their first season under the man from Piacenza, Inter qualified from their group but were knocked out by Liverpool in the round of 16, despite winning at Anfield. In the second season, they tried again, with a by-now recognisable system: 3-5-2. Perhaps it's not the most modern formation on the surface, but the way the Nerazzurri interpret it is in the guise of total football. The players switch positions almost constantly, and it's not uncommon to see defenders in attack or attackers in defence. In 2022/23, the draw once again pitted Inter against Barcelona, though with a tricky third wheel in FC Bayern München.

It looked like the group of death, but something happened. Inter's two games against the Catalan giants were crucial after the Nerazzurri lost at home to Die Roten on opening day before winning in Plzen in the second game. In the first game, Calhanoglu scored a great goal to win it, his first in the Champions League for Inter.

Barcelona needed a win at Camp Nou, and history was smiling on the hosts: they had always beaten Inter at home in the Champions League. And yet, something was blocking them. Barça were a formidable outfit: the best striker in the world, Lewandowski, up front, Raphinha and Dembélé on either side of him, the latest stars out of La Masia in Pedri and Gavi, and two veteran holdovers from way back in 2010, Busquets and Piqué. A win seemed certain, and the first half showed no signs of deviation from the intended script: Dembélé made it 1-0, and Barcelona were doing more or less what they wanted.

But Inzaghi's Inter are a team built for European nights. Yes, they play at the requisite tempo and with the right application, but there's something else. Even when the going gets tough, they stay in the game and dig deep. That second half was one of the best in the Club's history. Barella scored an immediate equaliser, capitalising on a brilliant ball by Bastoni. Then, Lautaro Martinez repeated his feat from 2018. Two trips to the Catalan capital, two goals: no other Inter striker can say the same, at least at the time of writing.

Guardiola, a short Ibrahimovic spell apart, didn't have a true number 9. Xavi, however, certainly did. Robert Lewandowski, 34 years of age, scored the goal that reignited the Blaugrana's hopes. The hosts pressed but forgot that, while Inzaghi's Inter tend to build up from the back, they can also go long if needed. Onana sent it upfield to Lautaro, Gosens finished it off. Lewandowski equalised again for Barcelona, and Asllani came close to making it 4-3, but it changed little. A draw was worth its weight in gold, as Inter went through and then made it all the way to the final.

And this time? Inter vs. Barcelona isn't a Clásico, but it has become a Champions League classic in recent years. There have been plenty of changes since the last meeting, but many of the faces involved will be the same. Players who know the difference between simply stating their intentions and carrying out those intentions for real.