Barcelona vs. Inter Milan: Champions League Second Leg Preview and Prediction

Internazionale:


Jose Mourihno is easily Inter’s 12th man. Mourinho, although an ass most of the time, is bar none as a motivator the greatest coach in the world. He certainly knows how to prepare for big games and he somehow kept Messi quite when the Catalans played their first leg in San Siro. This time around however, may be a different story as Barcelona will look to pull off the comeback of the season. Inter is coming off of a 3-1 win against Atalanta in what has them leap frog into first place ahead of AS Roma in the race for the Scudetto.


Regardless, Inter will look to score an away goal, forcing the home side to score 3 goals for a tie. A compact midfield but always ready to capitalize on a counter attack will be the strategy for Nerazzurri. A 2-0 shutout, on the other hand, would be the dream result for Barcelona seeing them through to the finals on away goals.


Dejan Stankovic is suspended for the second leg, but will still travel to Camp Nou. Wesley Sneijder picked up a minor hamstring strain against Atalanta but should start nonetheless. Mario Balotelli will be included in the roster, despite his antics against Inter fans after the first leg. Balotelli, as ordered from President Massimo Moratti, sat out the game against Atalanta as a repercussion for his actions.


Mourinho has done more than his best in getting the press involved before the match-ups. Recently, the Internazionale manager was quoted describing a final at the Santiago Bernabeu, home of Barca’s fiercest opponents, that has more to do with obsession than with a dream.


“When we came here in November, the fans were already singing ‘we’re going to Madrid …What I want to say to my players is to follow the dream, not make it an obsession, because for us this is a dream and not an obsession – for Barcelona it’s not a dream, it’s an obsession


A dream is about pride and my players will be very, very proud to reach the final in Madrid, Moscow, London or wherever, but for them it is different – they reached the dream by winning the final in Rome, by winning the final in Paris. Now it’s an obsession. And the obsession is called Madrid and Santiago Bernabeu.”


Prediction:


This is a hard one. It all depends how Barcelona comes to play. When Barcelona plays their game, there is no team in the world that can compete. Barcelona have drawn seven of their last eight away games in the Champions League while Inter Milan have won their last five Champions League games. At the same time that Inter finds themselves in cruise mode, Barcelona just doesn’t lose at home. That said, I think Inter’s advantage is just too big and Jose too good of a coach to let it slip. Barca wins, Inter advances.


Pick:


Barcelona 2 – 1 Inter Milan