Luis Suaréz double pushes Barcelona past Internazionale after early scare
The roar rocked this place and spoke of relief as well as joy. With six minutes remaining on a difficult night, Luis Suárez took advantage of a brilliant Lionel Messi run to score his second and take a Barcelona team that had been outplayed at times from a goal down to defeat Internazionale 2-1.
Antonio Conte’s side had seemed set to defeat Barcelona at the Camp Nou for the first time in six years of European football, stretching back 39 games, but a superb first half was not enough. Not with those two around.
“It’s hard to take because with everything we created we deserved more. We hurt them, but not as much as we could have. In the end, a move from two superstars changed everything,” Conte said after a game that ended in a way that seemed unlikely when Lautaro Martínez gave Inter the lead inside two minutes – or, in fact, for the next hour. Sent dashing beyond Clément Lenglet via a rebound, Martínez’s finish was hard and low and was just the start.
For Barcelona, the way Frenkie de Jong, Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets had been drawn to the ball and left stranded was a portrait of a recurring problem, the wild slide-tackles that followed deepening the sense that they were grasping for some control. They were, after all, trailing for the fifth time in nine games, aware that turning this around would be some task.
First, they had to survive. “We’re not going with helmets on just to defend,” Conte had said and his team was as good as his word. Inter had less of the ball but used it with a precision, purpose and clarity Barcelona lacked. Asked what he thought of them, Ernesto Valverde said simply: “Bloody hell, a great team.”
As if to underline that, Inter played from deep, their goalkeeper Samir Handanovic joining the passing triangle. One five-pass, one-touch move inside their own area saw them reach an open field; six more passes and 70 metres later, Stefano Sensi was on the edge of the box shooting just over.
Somehow, it was still only 1-0 and Barcelona would be grateful. Milan Skriniar had already had one ruled out, Nélson Semedo had dived to block Nicolò Barella and Marc-André ter Stegen had superbly saved Martínez’s header. Next, Alexis Sánchez headed Sensi’s clipped delivery wide and, as Barcelona were again pulled out of position, Semedo had to dash back to stop Lautaro.
Barcelona were alive but needed something to happen and Suárez happened, thumping a volley from Arturo Vidal’s pass on 58 minutes. Vidal had replaced Busquets, with De Jong moving central and the game shifted. Next, the Chilean and Messi worked it to Griezmann who smashed into the sidenetting before his replacement, Ousmane Dembélé, struck over. And that, it seemed, was that.
But at the end of his first full game of the season Messi set off on a long run, left three men behind and slipped it to Suárez who, dipping his shoulder and stepping into the area away from Diego Godín, finished calmly.