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Inter Milan will face Bayern Munich in the final of the UEFA Champions League after advancing over Barcelona with a 3-2 aggregate score.  Inter were dominated throughout the match playing a man down for the final sixty minutes after Thiago Motta received a controversial red card in the 28th minute.  It was a terrible decision by the referee to send off Motta after replays showed he just committed a simple foul with no harm intended.

Playing a man down, Inter’s defense was spectacular.  The back line kept their shape and organization frustrating Barcelona  going forward throughout the match.  Possession was inside Inter’s half almost the entire match. Barcelona finally broke through the Inter defense in the 84th minute with a great goal by Gerard Pique. Pique received a great through ball and circled with the ball at his feet faking out Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar before finding the open net.

Inter would hold off Barcelona for the remainder of the match as it finished 1-0.  Inter should be proud of their defensive effort against the hottest team in the world.   The final will be a great match between two powerhouse clubs on May 22 in Madrid.

Here is the full story from FoxSoccer.com with highlights-Inter advances to Champions League Final

In the second semifinal tomorrow, Inter Milan will take on Barcelona.  Inter hold a 3-1 advantage after their first leg victory in Italy.  Barcelona were the favorites to advance to the final but Inter showed up ready to play in the first leg and surprised the world.  Barcelona has a huge mountain to climb and must hold Inter scoreless to have a shot.  Barcelona did manage to score one away goal which gives them  little hope of advancing.

In the first leg, Lionel Messi was held in check by Inter.  I don’t see this happening again tomorrow.  Messi is the best player in the world and will not go down without a fight in front of his home fans.  For Inter to advance they will need another big match from their stout back four.  The Brazilian Maicon is a lethal threat coming forward from right back.

I am going to predict a 3-0 Barcelona victory on Wednesday.  I like Barcelona to come back and play with the ability we are all accustomed to.  Look for Xavi Hernandez to have a huge match along with Messi giving the Inter defense fits all night.

In the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho had to be concerned with the form of Barcelona in recent weeks.  Mourinho and Inter knew they would have to play their best soccer to get a good result against arguably one of the best teams in recent history.  Inter decided to play its best match of the season at the right time defeating the defending champions 3-1.

Inter though would start flat allowing Barcelona to take the early 1-0 lead in the 19th minute off a goal from Pedro.  Pedro found himself on the end of a great ball from Maxwell streaking up the left side to give the visitors the early lead.  Barcelona looked as if they would take care of business as usual, but things would change shortly.

Inter would soon take over the match in the midfield and tie the match in the 30th minute when Wesley Sneijder hit the back of the net. Sneijder was left wide open on the back post and slotted the ball past a helpless Valdes.

The hosts would take the lead for good short after the break in the 48th minute when Maicon slithered through the Barcelona defense to score the go ahead goal. As a right back Maicon is an excellent goal scorer that has to be treated like a striker.

There was a bit of controversy  in the 61st minute when Sneijder once again found himself open on the back post and headed the ball back across the goal to Milito who flicked a header into the back of the net.  The Barcelona players were very upset with the assistant referee as it looked as Milito was in an offside position.  Assistant referees are under an extreme amount of pressure to make the right calls and it was too close to call.

The defending champions need a huge performance next week if they want to repeat.  If any team can come back from a two goal deficit it’s Barcelona.  Lionel Messi will have to have more of an impact next week.  Inter bottled him up and didn’t allow him any space to create chances.  Our man of the match is Wesley Sneijder who was a constant threat out of the midfield for Inter.
<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=a1d2c26f-1064-41e0-b017-8a678b0dab52&#038;from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_articles" target="_new" title="CL Highlights: Inter Milan/Barcelona">Video: CL Highlights: Inter Milan/Barcelona</a>

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