SHORTHANDED INTER MILAN ADVANCE TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Following Inter Milan’s 3-1 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, many observers suggested that the tactical superiority of Internazionale’s manager Jose Mourinho over his Barcelona counterpart Pep Guardiola would be the difference in the series.  That proved to be the case in the second leg, as Inter Milan neutralized Barcelona’s feared offensive attack despite playing a man down for much of the game.  Barcelona won the contest 1-0, but Inter Milan advanced to the Champions League final by virtue of a 3-2 aggregate advantage.  They’ll now face Bayern Munich on May 22 at Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

Even with Inter Milan’s impressive first leg victory, soccer betting odds suggested that a strong showing by Barcelona was likely.  The Spanish La Liga leaders were a -230 favorite to win the game, with takeback on Inter Milan priced at +650.  Many bettors chose to play Internazionale on the handicap line, where they were a +1’ -135 choice.  Thanks to Inter’s tenacious defense, the anticipated high scoring contest didn’t materialize and the game went UNDER the posted total of 3 UN -115.

A strong Barcelona response to their first leg drubbing looked all the more likely when Inter Milan’s Thiago Motta was sent off after receiving a hotly contested red card just 26 minutes into the game.  Motta’s dismissal may have had the opposite effect, however, as it appeared to fire up the Serie A side who went on to completely neutralize Barcelona’s attacking 3-4-3 formation for much of the contest.

Following a scoreless first half Barcelona gave their fans something to cheer about when Gerard Pique scored the only goal of the game at the 84 minute mark.  Boran Krkic appeared to have scored the decisive second goal in added time, only to have it disallowed due to a hand ball ruling earlier in the play.  Of particular disappointment to Barcelona was the continued unproductive play of Lionel Messi, who has now failed to score in seven consecutive games.

The stat sheet clearly illustrated the one sided nature of play, with Barcelona holding  20-1 shots advantage and an overwhelming 86% to 14% edge in possession.  What it doesn’t show is the difficulty that Barcelona had finding open looks at the net against a heroic effort from the Inter Milan defenders.  As the game progressed, Barcelona clearly became increasingly frustrated at their inability to generate offense against their shorthanded foes.

Not surprisingly, Inter Milan’s manager Jose Mourinho had worked some of his trademark ‘psychological warfare’ with some controversial comments before the game.  He’d suggested that Barcelona had a penchant for ‘flopping’ and hoped aloud that the officiating wouldn’t decide the outcome.  He also raised the ire of Barcelona with an observation that making the Champions League final on the home field of their La Liga rivals Real Madrid had become ‘an unhealthy obsession’.