• Inter has the best defensive record in this season’s Champions League, keeping eight clean sheets and conceding just five goals. One more clean sheet and Inter will match the tournament’s all-time record in a single season of nine.
• Barcelona, meanwhile, has the best attack in this season’s tournament with 37 goals at an average of 3.09 per game.
• Inter manager Simone Inzaghi is taking charge of his 50th Champions League match. No Italian manager in the history of the competition has won more than Inzaghi’s 26 in their first 50 matches.
• With 12 goals and seven assists in 12 Champions League matches so far this season, no player has more goal contributions than Raphinha’s 19.
• Barça is undefeated at home in the Champions League this season, winning five and drawing one.
By now, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise to see Barcelona’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal producing the goods week in, week out.
But given all he has already accomplished – a La Liga title, Copa del Rey and European Championship with Spain – and the swagger and confidence with which he plays, it’s sometimes easy to forget Yamal is still only 17.
Just a chill guy 🥶#UCL pic.twitter.com/ORkKpGHCGx
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 30, 2025
Yamal admits he still feels nerves ahead of big matches but says he is “really excited” to appear in his first Champions League semifinal.
“We really want to get to the final and we will give everything,” he told reporters. “Everyone knows that Inter are a really strong side and are really strong at the back.
“They are good in attack too as, when they get the ball back, they counter quickly. However, we are good with the ball and we will do everything we can to play how we normally play and get a great result.
“The atmosphere at the Copa del Rey final was fantastic. We went out to enjoy ourselves. I would love to experience it again.
“I am really motivated and I have butterflies in my stomach before the games, but I don’t feel pressure. I just like to play and give everything. I left fear behind in Mataró,” he added, referencing the Catalonian town he was born in.
It’s fair to say things haven’t gone to plan for Inter Milan since booking its place in the semifinals with a draw against Bayern Munich two weeks ago.
Since then, Inter has played three domestic matches – and lost all three.
Defeats to Bologna and Roma in Serie A have handed Napoli the advantage in a nail-biting title race, while a 3-0 hammering as the home team against bitter rival AC Milan in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals ended Nerazzurri hopes of a historic treble.
But Inter manager Simone Inzaghi, who guided the team to the Champions League final against Manchester City two seasons ago, has backed his players to bounce back in the first leg against Barcelona and put those recent disappointments behind them.
“For four years, these players have done and continue to do extraordinary things,” he said in his pre-match press conference.
“What happened last week doesn’t erase all the work we’ve done. We’ve made it this far, it’s been an exciting season, and while we could have done better in the last few matches, we’re here competing for these goals after four years.
“So you’ll never hear me speak badly about these players or the club. With them and the fans, we’ve managed to exceed even the most optimistic expectations over these past few years.
“When you’re about to play a Champions League semifinal, you can’t say it’s the toughest moment. There’s a lot of enthusiasm.
“We’ve had a rough week, and we need to do more and do it better, but we’re excited to play tomorrow’s match against one of the strongest and most attacking teams around. We’ll need to make sacrifices and be technically clean.”
Less than an hour to go before kickoff and the lineups have been announced.
No major surprises, but Barcelona starts without Robert Lewandowski who remains sidelined by a hamstring injury.
The striker missed his team’s dramatic win in the Copa del Rey over the weekend and the Spanish giant will need to find another way to win again without the experienced 36-year-old.
Dani Olmo starts behind Ferrán Torres in attack, with Lamine Yamal (who is making his 100th appearance for Barça) and Raphinha on either flank.
🚨 BARÇA XI 🚨#BarçaInter @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/w8m804BHnc
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 30, 2025
Inter manager Simone Inzaghi has also opted for a familiar looking lineup, with Lautaro Martínez yet again leading the line.
Attacker Marcus Thuram also starts after struggling with injury in recent weeks. His return will be a huge boost for those Inter fans who have made the journey to Barcelona today.
Not long to go now…
I nostri 11 ⚫️🔵#ForzaInter #UCL #BarcellonaInter pic.twitter.com/bFeiCNhqn0
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) April 30, 2025
Lautaro Martínez is Inter’s captain and the man it turns to for goals.
The Argentine striker has obliged more than once this season, having scored eight in this year’s Champions League.
Martínez has been at the Italian club since 2018 and is now considered an Inter icon, but the 27-year-old looks determined to win his first European trophy.
For a player who has scored 20+ goals for the past three seasons, though, the striker is perhaps still underrated in world soccer.
But given Barcelona looks occasionally shaky at the back, Martínez could prove pivotal in this tie.
We can’t ignore this teenage sensation.
At just 17, Lamine Yamal has won more in soccer – La Liga, the Copy del Rey and the Spanish Supercup with Barça and the 2024 European Championship with Spain – than many professional players do in their entire career and it seems just a matter of time before he lifts the Champions League trophy.
Despite being so young, the winger has cemented his position on the right flank and will be a major threat to Inter’s defense.
He has scored four goals and made three assists in this year’s Champions League and tends to save his best for the big occasion.
Yamal also makes up one of the most potent attacks in world soccer, alongside winger Raphinha and striker Robert Lewandowski. The trio have all been in great form this campaign but Lewandowski will not be playing against Inter because of a hamstring injury.
Barcelona and Inter Milan have faced off on 12 occasions in their history, with Barça winning six, Inter two and four draws.
The last time these two teams played each other was during the group stages of the 2022-23 season – the year Inter reached the final – with the Italians winning 1-0 at the San Siro and drawing 3-3 in a thriller in Barcelona.
By far the most memorable of their encounters, though, were the two legs in the 2009-10 semifinals, one of the feistiest Champions League ties you are ever likely to see.
After Thiago Motta was shown an early red card following Sergio Busquets’ infamous ‘peekaboo’ moment, Inter managed to lose only 1-0 in the second leg – a result José Mourinho called “the most beautiful defeat of my career” – to go through 3-2 on aggregate.
Scenes of “The Special One,” who would go on to become manager at Barça’s eternal rival Real Madrid the next season, running around the Camp Nou turf and Barcelona’s petty turning on of the sprinklers will go down as an all-time great Champions League moment.
Barcelona’s wonderkid Lamine Yamal may be the talk of the town in Catalonia, but his teammate Raphinha has also been earning rave reviews this season.
After a slow start to his Barça career, the Brazilian has found his feat this campaign, particularly in European soccer’s premier competition.
With 12 goals in 12 games, Raphinha sits second in the goalscoring charts, one behind Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy – who is no longer in the competition.
Former Champions league winner and Brazil captain Cafu is one of those now tipping the 28-year-old for the game’s most prized individual award: the Ballon d’Or.
“I think Raphinha is having his best season ever. His numbers back it up,” Cafu told CNN Sports at the recent Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid. “Raphinha and Barcelona this year is a perfect marriage.”
Raphinha was appointed by Barça manager Hansi Flick as one of four captains at the start of the season and it’s this added responsibility that Cafu believes makes him a serious contender for the Ballon d’Or.
“The captaincy has made him feel more responsible, more important,” he says.
“He has a direct rival in Mohamed Salah who is also having a fantastic season but given Raphinha’s current numbers, he has a chance of winning the Ballon d’Or.”
For some, Inter Milan remains the dark horse of this year’s competition, but that’s nothing to do with its form.
The Italian team has been brilliant both domestically and in Europe, finishing fourth in the Champions League table with the same record as Barcelona – W6, D1, L1.
The Nerazzurri then went on to beat Feyenoord both home and away in the Round of 16, before knocking German giant Bayern Munich out in the quarterfinals.
Inter actually beat Bayern 2-1 at Munich’s Allianz Arena (the stadium for this year’s final), before earning a draw in the return fixture.
The team may not boast an array of superstars, but its form suggests the three-time European champion can be real a challenger in this year’s competition and Barcelona won’t be taking the game lightly.
This Barcelona team was somewhat of an unknown entity coming into this year’s tournament, but the Catalan club has been nothing short of impressive.
Hansi Flick, who took over as the club’s manager at the end of last season, has molded this squad of young, talented players into real contenders to win Barça its sixth European Cup.
The Blaugrana showed great promise from the off, finishing second in the newly formed league stage of this tournament after winning six of their eight matches.
Barça then made light work of Benfica in the Round of 16, winning 4-1 on aggregate, before finding a way past German side Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals.
The Spanish giant won the first leg 4-0 against Dortmund, before losing 3-1 in the return fixture. Despite the heavy defeat, Barcelona snuck into the semifinals on the aggregate scoreline.
The Blaugrana last played at this stage of the tournament back in 2019, when they were on the wrong end of an incredible Champions League comeback story against Liverpool.
Fans will be hoping to make happier memories this time around.
Last night saw the first semifinal kick off between Arsenal and PSG.
Both sides are bidding to win their first Champions League trophy and the atmosphere was feverish at the Emirates Stadium before kickoff, with both sets of fans hoping this could be their year.
But an early goal from PSG winger Ousmane Dembélé took the wind out of the Gunners and Les Parisiens will go into next week’s return fixture with a 1-0 advantage.
In truth, PSG wasted several chances to extend its lead, which leaves the door open for Arsenal to stage a comeback in the French capital.
However, Opta Sports says only two teams have reached the Champions League final after losing the first leg of their semifinal tie at home: Ajax in 1995-96 and Tottenham in 2018-19.
You can recap all of yesterday’s action here.
