Inter Milan substitute Davide Frattesi struck an extra-time winner to send his side into the Champions League final following a barnstorming 4-3 victory over Barcelona on Tuesday after Francesco Acerbi had rescued them from the brink of elimination with a stunning equalizer deep in added time.
Frattesi’s goal secured Inter a rip-roaring 7-6 aggregate victory in a semifinal for the ages that finished up with the Italian side reaching the Munich final where they will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal later this month.
It was a tale of two halves as Inter dominated the first 45 minutes and opened a two-goal lead thanks to a Lautaro MartÃnez goal on the counter in the 21st minute before Hakan Çalhanoglu extended the lead with a penalty right before the break.
However, Barça woke up in the second half with Eric GarcÃa and Dani Olmo netting within six minutes to level the score and, after Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer made a string of saves to keep the hosts alive, the Catalans thought they had scored the winner through Raphinha from close range in the 87th minute.
But as Inter made a desperate run for an equalizer, Denzel Dumfries found 37-year-old Acerbi inside the box and he fired a first-time effort into the net to score his first European goal in his 20th season and take the game to extra time.
In the 99th minute, Marcus Thuram made a brilliant run from the right and played the ball into the area for Frattesi, who set himself before neatly guiding a curling shot into the bottom corner to send the delighted home fans into raptures.
Sommer made two world-class saves from teenager Lamine Yamal to secure the hard-fought win for Inter, who will bid to claim their fourth Champions League title and their first in 15 years after losing to Manchester City in the final two years ago.
“I’m lucky to have finished the game, I screamed so much that I saw everything black,” Frattesi told Sky Sports. “I have to thank the physiotherapists because in recent days I was not well. I dedicate the victory to them.
“It’s incredible. I don’t know what to say. Tonight the incredible happened.”
Barcelona, who were chasing a treble after winning the Copa del Rey by beating Real Madrid in extra time, will now have to focus on LaLiga, where on Sunday they host their old rivals who are in second place and trail them by four points.
“Football has been very cruel to us,” Barça defender Eric GarcÃa told Movistar Plus. “We were down 2-0 again and the character this team showed was remarkable.
“We are a team full of young players and this has been a great year. We still have the [Spanish] league to play for.”
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