Inter Milan staged a late fightback to beat Barcelona 4-3 in extra time after a pulsating contest at San Siro and reach their second Champions League final in three seasons.
Six days on from a thrilling 3-3 first-leg draw in Barcelona, the two sides served up another classic with Inter staring down the barrel of defeat three minutes into stoppage time.
But defender Francesco Acerbi, acting as an emergency striker, turned in Denzel Dumfries’ cross and Davide Frattesi then guided home fellow substitute Mehdi Taremi’s 99th-minute lay-off to send San Siro into new levels of ecstasy.
The greatest tie in Champions League history? 👏#UCL pic.twitter.com/d3M8yO6Irt
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Inter had a healthy cushion at the interval through Lautaro Martinez and a Hakan Calhanoglu penalty, but Barcelona – who had also trailed by two goals during the first leg – levelled as Eric Garcia and Dani Olmo struck to reward their growing supremacy.
Raphinha smashed home three minutes from time after Yann Sommer had pushed out his first effort – the first time Barcelona had been ahead in the tie.
But Inter revived for a 7-6 aggregate victory – equalling the record number of goals in a Champions League semi-final – and will now play Arsenal or Paris St Germain in the Munich final.
Barcelona were determined to free the dangerous Lamine Yamal at every attacking opportunity but Inter doubled up on the 17-year-old and kept him at arms length in the first half.
Yamal sent a harmless shot straight at Sommer and Marcus Thuram trickled a weak effort wide at the other end before Inter burst into life.
Dumfries slipped Nicolo Barella down the right and the Italy midfielder lifted the ball over the head of Inigo Martinez to test Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Barcelona were caught out by the Inter press moments later as Federico Dimarco won possession to find Dumfries and his unselfish pass set up Martinez for a simple opener.
VAR was involved to check a potential penalty after Pedri’s pass bounced up on the hand of Acerbi, but Inter escaped and Barcelona frustration grew as Olmo and Yamal wasted promising positions.
Barella’s volley flew just wide from 20 yards and Calhanoglu snatched at a chance but Inter had breathing space as half-time approached.
Pau Cubarsi’s sliding tackle on Martinez appeared well timed at first glance, but Polish referee Szymon Marciniak was sent to the VAR monitor and ruled that contact was foot on foot.
Calhanoglu calmly dispatched the penalty into the bottom left-hand corner of Szczesny’s net as the Pole dived the other way.
Acerbi was clearly offside heading home from a free-kick before Barcelona halved the deficit after 54 minutes.
Gerard Martin’s cross was volleyed high into the net by his fellow full-back Garcia and that sparked end-to-end action of the highest quality and drama.
Szczesny turned aside Barella’s powerful drive and the corner led to a Barcelona breakout of superior numbers and Garcia firing straight at Sommer when it looked easier to score.
Barcelona equalised on the hour as Martin turned provider again, whipping in a delicious cross that Olmo met with a bullet header.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan crashed into Yamal and Marciniak had no hesitation pointing to the spot but VAR showed contact was inches outside the box and Barcelona had to settle for a free-kick that eventually came to nothing.
Raphinha thought he had won it and Yamal almost did when striking a post, moments before Acerbi equalised.
It handed Inter a lifeline that Frattesi turned into an unforgettable victory, which was only confirmed by Sommer making two superb saves to deny Yamal.
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