Barcelona is definitely a tough rival.
Last season, Inter Milan, without Lu Wenbin, eliminated Barcelona in two rounds and advanced to the final. However, when Barcelona played away in the first round, they were affected by the volcanic ash over Europe.
Because they couldn't take a plane, Barcelona had to take a long-distance bus to come to Italy for the away game. The journey was tiring and they lost 0-2, losing the initiative.
In the second round, they returned to Camp Nou and were again directly blocked by Mourinho's big bus formation. They only won 1-0 and lost to Inter Milan with a total score of 1-2 in two rounds.
Speaking of which, last season Inter Milan defeated Barcelona 2-1 in the two rounds and advanced to the final, which was largely due to luck.
This season, Inter Milan introduced Lu Wenbin, and the team's strength has indeed increased significantly. The three fronts are making progress in parallel, and there are signs that they are launching an attack on the treble.
But considering that many of Inter Milan's main players, such as Lucio and Zanetti, are one year older and their physical functions have declined, the strength growth brought by Lu Wenbin is actually not that terrifying.
The fact that the team lost several games in the league where Lu Wenbin started is a clear proof of this.
As for Barcelona, under Guardiola's careful training over the past few years, the team's Tiki-Taka passing and control technology has reached its peak.
Most of the time, Barcelona's possession rate was more than twice that of their opponents.
When Barcelona has the ball, their superb passing and controlling skills make it very difficult for opponents to steal the ball.
When the opponent has the ball, Barcelona will press the entire court, forcing the opponent to make mistakes and lose the ball, instead of shrinking in the backcourt and passively waiting for the opponent to attack.
Like Inter Milan, Barcelona is currently 8 points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid in the La Liga standings.
With only a few games left in the league, the 8-point lead is quite large, and Barcelona, like Inter Milan, can focus all their energy on the Champions League semi-final.
On April 25, Barcelona arrived in Milan two days in advance to begin pre-match preparations.
This year, Barcelona did not encounter volcanic ash, nor did they have to take a tiring long-distance bus journey, so they had enough rest to prepare for the competition.
Therefore, when holding the pre-match press conference on April 26, Barcelona head coach Guardiola and players such as Puyol and Villa all expressed full confidence, claiming that Barcelona would definitely eliminate Inter Milan this year and avenge the defeat of last season.
Meeting in the Champions League semi-finals for two consecutive seasons provides Barcelona with a great opportunity for revenge!
Inter Milan, playing at home, will naturally not show weakness, not to mention that the head coach is the madman Mourinho!
Mourinho claims that Inter Milan will beat Barcelona again and keep them out of the final!
Moreover, he will lead Inter Milan to win the championship by stepping on the corpse of Barcelona, and even win the treble!
There are really too many grievances between Mourinho and Barcelona!
From Chelsea to Inter Milan, Mourinho and Barcelona have become an irreconcilable feud!
Of course, these are just pre-match nonsense, nothing more than gossip used by the media to attract readers!
We will only know who will win and who will lose, and who will advance to the finals, after the competition.
Moreover, one game is not enough, we have to wait until both games are over to know the answer.
In the first leg of another semi-final held the day before, Manchester United beat Schalke 04 2-0 away from home, not only taking a 2-0 lead on aggregate, but also scoring two away goals.
It can be said that there is no suspense about the winner of the other semi-final. Manchester United will definitely advance to the final. It is unlikely that Schalke 04 can turn the tables away from home after losing 0-2.
This is also consistent with the impression people have of the strength and fame of both sides.
Now it depends on Inter Milan and Barcelona to see who can defeat their opponents and advance to the final to compete with Manchester United for the highest honor of this season's Champions League.
On the evening of April 27, at 20:45, the Meazza Stadium, which can accommodate 80,000 people, was packed.
With the referee's whistle, the first leg of the 2010/2011 Champions League semi-final between Inter Milan and Barcelona officially began at the Meazza Stadium.
Barcelona kicked off first.
What everyone originally hoped to see was a clash between two of the world's top giants, a collision between two Ballon d'Or winners, Lu Wenbin and Messi.
Unexpectedly, Barcelona kept passing the ball back after kicking off, and after Lu Wenbin and Eto'o rushed forward to grab the ball, they passed the ball forward again.
However, after passing the ball to the midfield, he was not in a hurry to attack, and would pass it back again when encountering a little interception or obstruction.
When there is no opportunity to pass the ball forward, the two defenders can even pass the ball back and forth several times, or the defenders and goalkeeper Valdes can pass the ball back and forth several times.
Barcelona's passing and controlling football is characterized by controlling the ball in the backcourt. Only when they feel that the opponent has exposed a flaw and there is a good opportunity to attack will they suddenly pass the ball forward and break through the opponent's defense.
However, today's Barcelona did not seem to be controlling the ball in the backcourt, but rather using the backcourt to delay time.
Without complete confidence, their ball didn't even make it past half court.
Tens of thousands of Inter Milan fans at the scene were booing, but Barcelona still went their own way and did not waver at all.
Although Lu Wenbin is very fast, he is not an expert in defensive steals.
When the entire Barcelona team had very good passing and control skills, although Lu Wenbin and Eto'o kept running back and forth trying to grab the ball, they were constantly teased by Barcelona's backcourt players in a monkey-like manner, which made the more than 10,000 away Barcelona fans in the stands laugh.
The world's number one Lu Wenbin was teased by Barcelona like a monkey, making Barcelona fans feel very good, as if they had already won the game.
When Lu Wenbin could not help but call on Sneijder and others to rush forward to grab the ball, Barcelona would take advantage of the gaps left by Sneijder and others to attack forward, but would immediately pass the ball back once they encountered obstacles.
Ten minutes passed and Lu Wenbin hadn't even touched the ball once.
After 20 minutes, Barcelona had 78% possession and 95% pass success rate, and Inter Milan did not even have a single shot on goal.
Mourinho was already standing on the sidelines with a gloomy face.
He realized that the words of revenge spoken by Guardiola, Puyol and others at the pre-match press conference were all smokescreens.
Facing Inter Milan, which has Lu Wenbin, Barcelona, which is known for its technical flow, did not launch an offensive against Inter Milan. Instead, they used their superb passing and controlling skills to control the ball and defend, raising the possession rate to a terrifying level, trying to drag the game into an away draw and then return to their home court, Camp Nou, to decide the outcome.
General defense is passive. Even teams that are relatively successful, such as AC Milan and Roma, are still unable to completely defend against Lu Wenbin, which inevitably gives Lu Wenbin opportunities to break through or create free kicks.
Therefore, now Barcelona uses their passing and controlling technology advantage to change the general team's defensive method when facing Inter Milan. They are not using ball control to attack, but using ball control to defend. (Seeking monthly votes)