Inter look for turnaround against dangerous Barca

MILAN (AP):

STRANGE THINGS happen when Inter Milan plays Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals.

The last time the two teams met in the final four of Europe’s elite club competition, in 2010, Barcelona had to make a 15-hour journey by bus to Milan after an ash cloud caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull shut down air space.

Barcelona lost that first leg 3-1, and a stout defensive performance by Inter in the return match saw them advance to the final 3-2 on aggregate – where they beat Bayern Munich to clinch a historic treble under Jose Mourinho.

Inter are hoping that they won’t have to make a similarly arduous journey after an unprecedented blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday.

Power had almost fully returned to Spain early yesterday morning, and Inter’s charter flight was still scheduled to take off for Barcelona at 5 p.m. local time ahead of the first leg of their semi-final today.

Barcelona’s 17-year-old star, Lamine Yamal, said he was caught at the team’s training grounds on the outskirts of the city when power went out just after noon on Monday.

“The truth is that we didn’t know what to do. I was with my teammates all day at the training centre,” Yamal said yesterday. “The blackout made us all very nervous. But of course, now, we are only thinking about the semi-final that we are very motivated to play.”

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi will be hoping his team can power back up for the game as well.

Dire run

Inter head to Barcelona following a dire run of results that has seen their dreams of another treble evaporate.

For the first time in more than 13 years, Inter have lost three straight matches without scoring a goal.

Since a 2-2 draw against Bayern in the Champions League quarterfinals, the Nerazzurri have lost 1-0 to both Bologna and Roma in Serie A and 3-0 to AC Milan in the second leg of their Italian Cup semi-final.

That has also seen them leapfrogged at the top of the Serie A table by Napoli, slipping three points behind the new league leaders.

“The three defeats hurt, and we’re not used to this. We have to look at ourselves and try to recover our physical and mental energy,” Inzaghi said.

Those three games, however, had something in common: Marcus Thuram was missing.

Thuram, who has been out with a left thigh issue, has scored 17 goals and provided nine assists across all competitions for Inter this season.

Without the France forward, Lautaro Martinez has appeared fatigued attempting to carry Inter’s attack. And Marko Arnautovic, Thuram’s replacement, has been ineffective.

Thuram has returned to training and could even start today.

“We’ll head to Barcelona and we will play them with respect, not fear,” Inzaghi added.