MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan has another Champions League final to look forward to. Once the players catch their breath, that is.
In the end it took extra time, two astonishing comebacks and 13 goals to separate Barcelona and Inter and see the Italian club — which was a mere seconds away from elimination — prevail 7-6 on aggregate after winning another rollercoaster encounter 4-3 on Tuesday.
Substitute Davide Frattesi was the extra-time star for Inter, firing home in the 99th minute to leave the Barcelona players slumped to the ground while his Nerazzurri teammates — including those on the bench — were racing to celebrate with him.
“I don’t know what happened tonight. I’m lucky I managed to finish the game, I screamed so much (in celebration) that I saw everything black,” Frattesi told Italian broadcaster Sky.
Moments earlier, he'd been encouraging the already loud San Siro crowd to make more noise and the atmosphere grew more feverish after Frattesi delivered on his super-sub reputation again.
“That’s part of my career," the midfielder said. “I wasn’t given so much incredible talent, but I am always the last one to give up and the first one to believe we can do it. At 3-3, I told Marcus (Thuram) that we would go through.”
Three-time European champion Inter, which lost the 2023 final to Manchester City, will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in Munich on May 31 for the title. PSG beat Arsenal 1-0 in London last week in their first match. The return leg is Wednesday in Paris.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi thinks his squad has shown in wins over Barcelona in the semis and Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals that it can compete against the very best.
“My players have been extraordinary, they've put out there two monstrous performances to get to this final,” he said. "We have to continue. The final will be played against a really great team, whether it's Arsenal or PSG. Barcelona and Bayern are probably the best teams in Europe at the moment, but it will still be difficult."
There was little sign at halftime of the drama to play out. Inter was comfortably leading 2-0 after Lautaro Martínez scored and earned a penalty, which was converted by Hakan Çalhanoğlu.
But Barcelona had been in that position before, having gone 2-0 down early last week in the first leg before securing a thrilling 3-3 draw.
And Eric García scored nine minutes after the break before Dani Olmo headed in the equalizer six minutes later.
Raphina appeared to have secured the win for Barcelona when he put the Spanish club ahead two minutes before full time, tucking away the rebound after Yann Sommer had saved his initial shot.
However, 37-year-old Francesco Acerbi astonishingly leveled in stoppage time — with his first goal in European competition — to add another 30 minutes of time.
Frattesi had proved crucial off the substitutes' bench before, both for Italy and Inter, and so he was again, controlling Mehdi Taremi's pass and beating Pau Cubarsí before curling past Wojciech Szczęsny.
Barcelona almost leveled again but Sommer made a fingertip save to push Lamine Yamal's shot past his post.
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said he told his players “I know everyone is disappointed … but at the end we can be proud of our performance.”
“I’m proud of my team," he said. "We have to accept it and we start again next season.”
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Daniella Matar, The Associated Press
