As they prepare for the Champions League semi-finals, only two of the four clubs involved have title-winning pedigrees in this stage.
Barcelona has been a European champion five times, but has yet to reach those heights in the post-Lionel Messi era, but Inter dominated the continent three times in 2009-10 under Jose Mourinho.
And after each saw German opposition in the quarter-finals, Barca routed Borussia Dortmund and through two tense meetings with Bayern Munich, they will face the spots at the exhibition this season.
Barcelona already has two silverware flavors in the term, winning Super Copa despanna and more recently Copa del Rey, with clean sweeps now on their agenda.
And while Inter ran into the Serie title race and crashed from Coppa Italia, Simone Inzagi’s reputation as a knockout specialist means that it should not be underestimated.
But who will be on top in Wednesday’s first leg at Estadi Olimpic Lluis’ company? We dive into the best okka facts and numbers to understand tasty ties.
All eyes #ucl pic.twitter.com/byzhcejzp4
– UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 28, 2025
What are you expecting?
Before the semi-finals began on Tuesday, Opta SuperComputer made Barca the second favorite, lifting the famous old trophy.
They were all assigned 27% of the time, lower than the 31% chance of Arsenal but higher than the respective wishes of Paris Saint-Germain (22%) and Inter (19%).
As far as this tie is concerned, Blaugrana has a 58% chance of going to 42% of Inter, with the chance that the first leg is at 55.2% wins.
Nerazzurri was only given 22.5% chances of building a first leg lead on their trip, as they did against Bayern in the quarter.
Next destination: Barcelona! #forzainter #ucl pic.twitter.com/g6wf8cudiz
-Inter (@inter_en) April 16, 2025
The tie in the previous European Cup/Champions League knockout stage between these two Giants was memorable that comes to the same stage in the 2009-10 edition.
On that occasion, Mourinho’s intellectuals won Pep Guardiola’s Barca (and subsequent champion Barca), totaling 3-2 and 3-1 at San Silo, limiting Blaugrana to a 1-0 victory at Camp Nou.
Although they concluded the biggest meeting of the Inter-Inter Team, they face each other in 16 previous incidents across Europe, with Barca winning eight of these games (5 draws, 3 losses).
Nerazzurri is unbeaten in the final two against the Catalan Giants, but they drew 3-3 at San Siro and won the 1-0 victory in their group stage trip in the 2022-23 Champions League. Barca fell to the first hurdle of that campaign, and Inter reached the final.
However, Barcelona are undefeated in six home games against Inter in the Champions League (5 wins, 1 draw).
These five home victories are joint joints against Champions League/European Cup opponents, beating AC Milan five times, but are frequently hosting in competitions without losing (7 times).
The flick will undo it
The 2019-20 season, held closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, may not be living long in memory for many.
Unless you’re Hanshiflic, of course.
All his conquered Bayern sides hope to earn a bunch of high-pitched Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and Champions Leagues less than a year after he took the reins, and repeat the tricks against Barcelona in his debut season.
Blaugrana won the final of the final 3-2 competition last Saturday, so Jules Kounde has already won the Super Copa de Spana and Copa del Rey trophies with dramatic hero Jules Kounde winning Real Madrid.
And this is becoming a very memorable season for Blaugrana, as he leads the Los Blancos at the top of Lariga.
Since the turn of the year, Barca has only lost one in 28 games (22 wins, five draws except for extra time). That loss stepped out of the gas after a 4-0 first leg victory in the second leg of the quarterfinal against Dortmund.
They have converted 58 of 121 big chances, scoring 83 goals from 66.99 expected goals (XG) since their start in 2025.
Their hopes for Champions League glory seemed to have been a major blow when Robert Lewandowski, who had 11 goals in the campaign, suffered a hamstring injury to miss both games with Inter.
However, Ferran Torres served as a competent proxy against Madrid on Saturday, earning a key equalizer to force extra time. He may be adjacent to two Champions League star performers, Ramin Yamal and Rafinha, from 2024-25.
Yamal and Rafinya combined more goals than any other duo in the Champions League this season (5-2 Yamal assists, three Rafinya assists), bringing each other the most chances in pairings of teammates (16-8 each).
Rafina’s 51 goal involvement in all competitions this season (30 goals, 21 assists) has only been improved by Liverpool’s Mohamed Sarah (33 goals, 23 assists) in the top five leagues of Europe, with Yamal having 34 goals (14 goals, 20 assists).
If any team is ready to deal with Lewandowski’s absence, it’s Barca who averaged 3.1 goals per game in the Champions League under the flick. The only club manager duo with a better figure in the history of the competition is Bayern of Flick, 3.2.
Inter channels the spirit of 2010?
But Barca’s star-studded offense comes against Inter teams who already have eight clean sheets in the Champions League this season.
Another would think that in a single edition co-hosted by Milan in 2004-05 and Juventus in 2016-17, it equals most shutouts by Italian teams.
Inzagi has built a reputation as a knockout specialist since his arrival at Inter in 2021, winning twice for Coppa Italia and three times for Super Coppa Italia, leading him to the 2023 Champions League Final.
He will be the seventh Italian coach to reach this milestone as he will oversee the 50th Champions League match. Most of any country (currently with Spain).
His 26 victory is already the most wins by Italian managers throughout the first 50 Champions League matches (one ahead of Marcello Lippi at 25).
And Inzagi showed off his game management skills once again this semester on a big stage. Inter spent only 10 minutes and 54 seconds in the Champions League loss position in 2024-25.
They were behind in the second leg of the quarterfinals between Bayern and Bayern, but within nine minutes they advanced 2-1 in the evening, with a total of 4-2 advancement.
With their tie, they showed off their infrastructural abilities, reminiscent of Mourinho’s 2009-10 class. Inter faced 40 shots in two meetings with Bayern, but averaged XG for each attempt was just 0.09.
But Inter isn’t just a defensive and fortitude. Nicolo Barrera can create a devastating counterattack from midfield. He averaged 7.1 progressive passes per 90 minutes this season in the Champions League.
Of all Barrera passes, 12% were progressive (complete passes of two-thirds of the attack that moved the ball to at least 25%, the highest percentage of the central midfielders in this edition, complete.
Nerazzurri has been wobbling across the country for the past few weeks, coming out from Coppa Italia to Milan and three points behind Napoli in the Scudetto race.
But if anyone can irritate Barka, it could just be Nerazzuri.
Players to watch
Barcelona – Lapina
Raphinha has been directly involved in 26 Champions League goals so far, with just 24 appearances (15 goals and 11 assists).
In the history of competition, only two players who have made more target contributions in their first 25 matches in the competition are Erling Haaland (36) and Luis Suarez (28).
Inter – Lauther Roman Martinez
Martinez scored in each of his past five inter appearances in the Champions League.
If he finds the net again here, he will be the second South American player to score in six consecutive games in the competition after Edinson Kavani (7 of the PSGs from November 2016 to October 2017).