Serie A side Inter held Barcelona to a 3-3 draw in a thrilling game in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final and Simone Inzaghi had big words to say about Lamine Yamal.
The Spaniard had scored a brilliant curler in the first half to put Barcelona in the game after Inter had scored first. The Nerazzurri had led twice in the game but Barcelona hit them back constantly, with Yamal dazzling in the final third and showing glimpses of sublime quality.
After the game, Inzaghi spoke to the press and he was asked about the performance. He went onto say something special about Yamal.
He said, via TMW: โWe could have also won it against a team that has a difficult player to mark, in the last 25 minutes of the first half Lamine Yamal caused us a lot of problems. He is a talent that is born once every 50 years, I had never seen him live and today he impressed me.โ
The Italian further stated that Inter could have easily won the game: โToday we could have even won it, but letโs move on: a semi-final played like this in Barcelona is a source of great pride. Having said that about Lamine Yamal, I would like to applaud everyone who played: Thuram had trained yesterday without shooting, Dumfries had accelerated their recovery and we know how much we have missed them in this team.โ
He was also asked about what changes he made to the side at half time and Inzaghi stated: โWe adjusted a few things, we had to try to get up when we could. We had to be better on Lamine Yamal, because from the outside itโs much easier.
โThereโs a player on the pitch who impressed me and created a lot of problems for us in the last half hour. Then we adjusted and they also dropped, they came from a lot of games and a final on Saturday. Like Lamine Yamal, I canโt say that my players surprise me, but we came from a period where we were always counted on and they gave everything they needed on the pitch.โ
The Nerazzurri will be happy with the result considering the recent results in all competitions as the draw keeps them very much in the game, as they head to the San Siro next week.
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Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN
