Simone Inzaghi And Hansi Flick REACTS As Inter Defeats Barcelona 4-3, (7-6 on aggregate) In A Thrilling Champions League Semi-Final Clash.

• It was another dramatic night of football, as Inter Milan produced a late sensational turnaround to defeat Barcelona 4-3 and a 7-6 aggregate win in a thrilling, all-time classic of a Champions League semi-final game.

• This semi-final will go down as one of the best in the tournament's history.

• It was the joint-highest scoring semi-final tie in the Champions League history, matching the 13 goals scored when Liverpool defeated Roma 7-6 on aggregate in 2017-18.

It was looking like a Deja-vu at the iconic Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan just like in the first leg at the Estadi Olimpic in Spain last week Wednesday, Barça found themselves trailing by two goals again.

Inter raced into a 2-0 lead on the night, with Lautaro Martinez scoring the opener in the 21st minute after an uncharacteristic error from Dani Olmo allowed Denzel Dumfries to break free and then supply Martinez the chance to tuck the ball into an unguarded net.

Inter were awarded a penalty towards the end of half time when Pau Cubarsí produced a last-ditch tackle to deny Lautaro the chance to score his second, but VAR had a second look and deemed that contact was made with the Argentinian’s leg.

Hakan Calhanoglu converted the spot-kick to double Inter's lead.

The Blaugrana side now needed a double reaction with just a quarter of an hour in the second half to get the job done, and surprisingly Inter showed that that did learn their lessons from the first-leg, as Barca turned it around again.

Moments after Inter had a goal disallowed for offside, Gerard Martín floated a cross towards Eric García who volleyed the ball into the net in the 54th minute, what a perfect connection. And Barça were back in business dominating the second-half.

The former Man City's defender Eric could have scored a second moments later on, butt goalkeeper Yann Sommer made the most extraordinary save from point blank range.

There was nothing the Swiss keeper could do the next time a more determined Barca side drove forward and Dani Olmo headed in the equaliser in the 60th minute.

Raphinha grabbed what appeared to be an 87th-minute winner as Barca went ahead for the first time in the tie, when he converted a rebound after Sommer had saved his first strike. They seemed to be heading to their first final in 10 years.

With just two minutes of added time left, Inter trailed 3-2 on the night and were heading out of the competition in front of thier home fans before centre-back Francesco Acerbi smashed a cross into the roof of the net to level the tie in the 93rd minute and force an extra-time. It was his first ever Champions League goal at the age of 37, after which a 79th-minute substitute Davide Frattesi who came in for Henrikh Mkhitaryan curled a beautiful left-footed shot into the bottom corner in the first half of extra time to secure the 4-3 victory, 7-6 on aggregate.

18-year-old Lamine Yamal almost took the game to penalties but was twice denied by superb saves by Sommer as the Italian champions held on to reach the final and spark incredible scenes of celebration.

This means a second Champions League final in three seasons for three-time European champions Inter after two legs of incredible drama which saw 13 goals and a tie turned on its head on several occasions.

Inter, who lost 1-0 to Manchester City in the 2023 final, will play either Paris St-Germain or Arsenal at Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena on Saturday, 31 May in the 2025 showpiece.

The Gunners head into Wednesday's second leg in France after losing 1-0 at Emirates Stadium last week Tuesday.

Inter won the European Cup in 1964 and 1965 and clinched the Champions League in 2010, when Jose Mourinho guided them to a 2-0 win in the final against Bayern Munich.

No Italian side has won the competition since then with Juventus losing in the 2015 and 2017 finals, before Rodri scored the only goal for Manchester City against an Inter side led by this same Simone Inzaghi in the final two years ago.

“We must compliment Barcelona too, because they are truly a strong opponent,” Inter manager Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.

“It required a super Inter, so I praise my lads for putting in two incredible performances over the two legs. It was the only way to reach the Final, I am so proud to be their coach, as they gave it everything and those who came off the bench had the right attitude too.

“They should enjoy every moment in front of these fans, we are truly happy. They were exemplary. I told the players to believe, that we could try to limit Barcelona, even though it wasn’t easy to do. We had Lautaro, Dumfries and Frattesi who were not 100 per cent fit, so we had to use our hearts to push through every obstacle.”

The Azzurri's are also in contention to win a second successive Italian Serie A title as they are second, three points behind leaders Napoli with three games to go.

Barca boss Hansi Flick took aim at the match officials after seeing his team beaten by Inter in the Champions League but made it clear he was proud of his players for all their efforts in the competition.

The game featured a number of controversial incidents, and Flick felt all the marginal decisions went in Inter’s favour.

“I’m disappointed, but not with the players or their performance. They tried everything, and it is what it is. We’re out, but next year we’ll try again and try to make the whole club and the fans happy,” he told the media.

“Inter also plays and is a great team. They defend very well and have good forwards. They keep possession, they have good automatic mechanisms.

“I don’t want to talk too much about the referee, but I think every 50-50 decision he made was for them. That’s football, you have to accept it.

“I think about it, about the refereeing decisions, but I don’t want to talk about it. It’s not fair to my team, who did an amazing job. I don’t like talking about the referee. I’ve told him what I think, but I’m not going to say it here.”

The Barcelona boss also insisted his team will learn from the defeat and is already thinking about Sunday’s Clasico.

“We’ll learn. It’s a progression. We want to keep learning. We don’t have much time to train. We’ll be back next season,” he added.

“It’s normal that we’re disappointed, but on Thursday we’ll be back training and preparing for the match against Real Madrid.”

Meanwhile, Barcelona have been European champions five times, but have not reached the final since their last success in 2015.

They still have a chance to grab their third domestic trophy this season as they hold a four-point lead at the top of La Liga over reigning champions Real Madrid.

Barca entertain Real in El Clasico on Sunday and a victory would go a long way to securing a 28th Spanish title - and only their second in the past six campaigns.

Flick's side have already won the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana this season, beating rivals Real in both finals.