‘THRILLER, THRILLER NIGHT’
The best Big/Bigger Cup semi-final of all time? That’s the sort of recency bias-based chat that would normally have the Daily rounding up all the young football heads to watch Bayern v Red Star Belgrade on VHS over a cool glass of turnip juice. But Inter 4-3 Barcelona (aet, 7-6 on agg) really might be the one. In recent years, we’ve seen incredible comebacks (Liverpool v Barça), goals galore (Roma v Liverpool), dramatic late plot twists (Spurs v Ajax, Real Madrid v Manchester City). Still, nothing quite like this, a game where even the eye-watering, parenthesised final score doesn’t tell the whole story.
This was a seven-goal thriller where one of the keepers, Inter’s Yann Sommer, was man of the match. Yep. The veteran Swiss stopper repeatedly denied Barça schoolboy Lamine Yamal, 12, like a pensioner protecting his greenhouse from errant footballs flying over the fence. Sommer is one of several septuagenarians in Simone Inzaghi’s squad, a battle-hardened unit held together by bandages, tattoo ink and a collective refusal to lose. After conceding just one goal (and scoring 11) in their eight league phase games, Inter have found a way to outscore Bayern and Barça (total Bigger Cup goals this season: 43) across four knockout bouts of Keeganesque artillery fire.
While many great two-legged ties are defined by a dramatic comeback, Barcelona managed two in this semi-final and still came up short. Inter, the oldest team in this year’s Bigger Cup, tried and failed in both legs to build up a buffer big enough to keep Hansi Flick’s impudent strutters at bay. When Raphinha bundled the ball home on the rebound in a smoke-filled San Siro in the 87th minute – putting Barça ahead in the tie for the first time – the collective vibe from the Inter defence was one of weary acceptance. Yet five minutes later – during which the relentless Lamine Yamal also hit the post – one of their number, Francesco Acerbi, 78, was arriving at the near post like prime Zlatan, slamming the ball into the roof of the net and ripping off not one, but two shirts in celebration.
Extra time was, by the insane standards set in the previous 180 minutes, a little short on goalmouth action – but when the moment came, it was Inter who seized it. More specifically it was Davide Frattesi, a midfielder with more than 100 Serie B appearances to his name, who stepped off the bench to deliver the fatal blow. Set up by Marcus Thuram – whose backheeled goal inside 30 seconds in Barcelona now seems a lifetime ago – Frattesi shaped to shoot, paused, and then rifled the ball into the far corner. Why the hesitation? “Maybe I was thinking if I don’t score here, I’m [effed],” Frattesi confessed afterwards – also revealing that his eye-popping Tardellian celebration was of such intensity that he almost passed out.
Before Inter faced Bayern in Munich, Frattesi had scored one Big/Bigger Cup career goal. He has added two more, both of huge significance in leading his team back to the Allianz Arena for the final. He was not on many pundits’ long lists of potential game-changers when the knockouts began – but that rather sums up Inzaghi’s mentality monsters. On paper, a rag-tag collective of has-beens, never-quite-weres, grizzled mercenaries and creaking centre-backs. On the pitch, though, they might just be the best team in Europe.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Rob Smyth at 8pm BST for live updates on PSG 3-1 Arsenal (4-1 agg) in their Bigger Cup semi-final second leg.
QUOTES OF THE DAY
America will welcome the world. Everyone who wants to come here to enjoy, to have fun to celebrate the game, will be able to do that” – Fifa head honcho Gianni Infantino trumpets the warm reception the USA USA USA will give fans during the 2026 World Cup at a White House taskforce gathering.
We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game. But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home. Otherwise they’ll have to talk to Secretary Noem” – vice-president JD Vance isn’t quite so genial, while his boss reveals he had no idea Russia were banned from the tournament. Yikes!
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
OK, with a heavy heart, I’ll do it to save the other 1,056 Football Daily readers the effort but this is the last time I do the ‘Watford have changed manager again, let’s all laugh at them’ schtick, as it’s all very tedious now. But, for old times’ sake, since the Pozzos took over Watford in June 2012, they have had a grand total of 23 managers including interims, but they’re all interims really, aren’t they? In which case, a doff of the cap to Tom Cleverley for lasting more than a year. The more shocking thing from the piece was finding out that Cleverley had played for England. Thirteen times apparently (presumably during the Hodgson debacle)” – Noble Francis (and no others).
Re: JJ Zucal (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), I hail from a part of Sheffield where fights break out if you are offered Worcestershire sauce, and I can assure you that not only all the country, but half of Sheffield and the (evidently not bitter) Noble Francis don’t want Sheffield United in the Premier League. Heck, I bet even United don’t want United in the Premier, and they will soon demonstrate this by the most amusing tank yet in their playoff history. But if we are, à la Inter Miami, just going to decide who plays in a competition, in the same way we can decide what the inhabitants of Arctic land masses actually want, can we have Bristol City? I lately realised my tolerance for Frank Lampard had only increased because I hadn’t heard about him for a while, and Bristol City are way more romantic. I think they can be trusted not to desperately overspend on ageing players in an effort to stay up and destroy their entire financial structure. What? Oh. (Admittedly, only works if you are very, very old, that joke)” – Jon Millard.
Bagging a playoff place by finishing only 21 points behind the Blades is worthy of celebration. Certainly on a par with Leicester who scored an actual goal, for the first time since 8 December at the King Power. Celebrations were so wild, that the 20,000 of us there were credited as north of 31,000 by the Leicester number counters” – Steve Roberts.
On a night of scary news elsewhere, that match (apart from minor sh!thousery) was a reminder of the finer things in life. Such as me, turning over to see my mate making a brief appearance in an ITV medical drama and missing two goals” – Kev McCready.
Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Kev McCready. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the rest of the Football Weekly pod squad as they chew over that match at San Siro and more.
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Source: theguardian.com
