Just 3 of 12 duels won: Inter clash raises big questions over Barcelona’s midfield anchor – Opinion | OneFootball

FC Barcelona suffered a crushing blow to their treble hopes as they bowed out of the Champions League this season with a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Inter Milan at the San Siro. For the neutral, it was a tie for the ages, with both teams showing incredible resilience to not give up.

It was a game that see-sawed right from the start of the first leg and one look at the aggregate (7-6) tells you just how tightly fought it was. There is a lot of learning for Barcelona’s young team to take back from this tie and it is only set to make them stronger in the upcoming seasons.

Hansi Flick will surely be going back from this game with notes on where his team can improve and how he can potentially change things going forward to make sure such a situation doesn’t repeat itself in the future. Among those might include a revisit of the pivot situation.

Frenkie de Jong is not the solution

Make no mistake, this is not a criticism of Frenkie de Jong. The Dutchman actually played a brilliant 120 minutes against Inter Milan. He has been in excellent form since the start of 2025 and in a run that has extended for almost 5 months now, the Dutchman has more often than not come out on top.

The Barcelona midfielder has held his own in the pivot position for much of this period and hardly put a foot wrong. He has improved his off-the-ball game a lot and has exceeded expectations but on the biggest stage against physically imposing teams like Inter Milan, his off-the-ball game isn’t sufficient.

As per stats from SofaScore, Frenkie won just 3 out 12 duels on the night. Breaking it down further, he won just 2 out of the 9 ground duels that he attempted and just 1 out of 3 aerial duels. It clearly isn’t a lack of effort as the numbers show but Inter were able to escape his attempts to win the ball back.

Barcelona playing against Inter Milan. [Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images]

Someone more defensive minded

Hansi Flick needs to take a look at the team and identify if he needs someone more defensively minded to play in the number 6 role. The hope right now is that La Masia starlet Marc Bernal can return from injury and play in this role, for which he has already shown to have the aptitude.

Frenkie is brilliant with the ball at his feet and pairing him with someone like Bernal could bring the best out of both players. The Dutchman would be disappointed with what happened last night at the San Siro and he isn’t necessarily at fault but that is what his game is at the moment.

The Inter Milan defeat was a harsh reality check for Hansi Flick’s men. While it showcased just how much they had grown as a team in recent times, it also reminded them that they are far from the finished product. Regardless, this is just the start of something special and this experience will only hold the players in good stead going forward. Let’s wait and see how it plays out.