Barcelona make amends and Chelsea’s youth step up in France
Luis Suarez revelled in a “valuable victory” for Barcelona in the Uefa Champions League after the Uruguayan striker’s two goals led the Catalans past Inter Milan in their Group F match on Wednesday night.
Inter, who lead Serie A after winning all six domestic games under new manager Antonio Conte, produced a wonderful first-half display and took the lead in the second minute through Argentine forward Lautaro Martinez at Camp Nou.
Barca had struggled to get going but looked more like their usual dominant selves after the break and pulled level in the 58th minute through a superb volley from Suarez.
The Catalans caught Inter out on the counter-attack to take the lead in the 84th minute, with captain Lionel Messi feeding Suarez who produced a low finish to prompt relieved celebrations among the 86,000 fans in the stadium.
The win put Barca second with four points from two games, the same as leaders Borussia Dortmund who won 2-0 at Slavia Prague. Inter have one point. “This is a very valuable victory for us against a direct rival,” Suarez said.
“We were aware that if we continued playing like we had in the first half we could lose, but the key thing was we stayed patient and created chances.”
Barca were transformed after Barca manager Ernesto Valverde replaced Sergio Busquets with Arturo Vidal.
“We had control with Busquets, Arthur and Frenkie de Jong but we needed to get closer to their area. We managed to do that in the end and it’s because of that they we were able to create better chances and win the game,” Valverde said.
Conte, meanwhile, rued his side not making the most of their outstanding performance in the first half.
“It’s nice to receive compliments after a performance like that but we deserved much more from the game,” he said. “We proved we could cause Barca real problems but it’s a shame we couldn’t take our chances and kill the game.”
Over in France, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard praised the maturity of his young squad after the Premier League club secured a vital 2-1 win away to Lille.
In-form striker Tammy Abraham celebrated his 22nd birthday with the opening goal, before Victor Osimhen equalised for the French side in the first half. Brazilian midfielder Willian then scored the decisive goal in the 77th minute with a well-taken volley as Chelsea got their first Group H points on the board following the home defeat to Valencia.
Last year’s semi-finalists, Ajax, lead the group on maximum points after an impressive 3-0 win at Valencia.
Lampard fielded two 24-yearolds as well as four more players aged 22 or under in his lineup, as teenager Reece James started as a right wing-back in a 3-4-1-2 system.
James only made his senior debut for the club a week ago in a League Cup tie against fourth-tier Grimsby Town.
His second-half replacement, 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi, set up the winning goal. “This isn’t a game for niceties, we have to go and win these matches and improve all the time and there were loads of signs of team improvement tonight, and individuals,” Lampard said.
“The young players are responding and they have to keep doing it because the Champions League level is something else.”