Almost Unsurpassable Inter Eliminates Barcelona To Secure Unlikely Final

Despite a 1-0 victory at the Camp Nou, last year's Spanish, European, and World Champions have been eliminated by Inter Milan on a 3-2 aggregate, and will be watching from home as the Italian giants take on Bayern Munich in Madrid for next month's Champions League Final.

As expected, Barcelona dominated Inter in every department during the return leg. They had nineteen more shots than the Italians and an amazing 86 percent of possession to Inter's meager 14 percent. Nevertheless, the latter's stunning 3-1 victory at the San Siro last week assured that they would go on as Barcelona failed to score a much needed second goal to win the fixture on the away-goals rule.

Controversy marred much of the pre-match talk leading up to the game, as Mourinho suggested that Barcelona were "obsessed" with the idea of playing the final in arch-rival Real Madrid's stadium. And Brazilian Thiago Motta, surely the last person to talk, accused Barcelona of using theatrics to put pressure on referees in order to win calls.

It did not take long after the opening whistle for Motta to find himself in further trouble as he stupidly and unnecessarily put a hand in Sergio Busquet's face to earn himself a second yellow and leave Inter with ten men only 28 minutes into the match. Busquet's dramatic reaction was an insult to football, but that is the wretched standard that has been set by the ever more feminine modern game.

The Italians (playing, as usual, with no Italians), were not affected much by the loss as they seemed determined from the onset to put a siege on their goal and prevent the likes of Messi, Ibrahimovic, and Pedro from breaking through with the trickery typical of Barcelona football.

A more detailed recap of the match would prove superfluous: Barcelona simply played as they tend to and Inter defended until the final whistle. The game's only highlights were a dreadful miss by Bojan at Julio Cesar's near post and an absolutely stunning goal by defender-turned-forward Gerard Pique to give Barcelona hope in the final minutes of the match. It should also be mentioned that Bojan was unfortunate to have a goal wrongly disallowed for a harsh hand-ball call on Yaya Toure in extra-time.

Regardless, throughout the entire 90 minutes, the Inter backline held steady and effectively shut down Messi and Xavi from utilizing their one-touch passing, which took much of the significant pressure off the Inter goalkeeper. Even Eto'o and Milito played a tremendous game in the back as they rarely ventured outside of their own third of the pitch.

Many football supporters will surely be disappointed by the fact that Barcelona will not be taking part in next month's final against a fortunate Bayern Munich. Nevertheless, while the beautiful game may have suffered a distressing defeat today at the hands of the tactical anti-football of Jose Mourinho's Inter, the latter's victory only serves to prove how difficult it is to beat the best team in world football.

In fact, it would be an even sadder event if Bayern Munich, having been lucky to play against ten men in four of their last six matches, were to come out victorious in Madrid.

As well, it could not be argued that Inter did not earn their first Champions League final in almost forty years. Skipper Javier Zanetti and holding midfielder Esteban Cambiasso played spectacular throughout both fixtures and deserve the opportunity to mock a ridiculous Maradona for having essentially made clear that they will not be participating in the World Cup for Argentina.

As well, Wesley Sneijder, who has been brilliant for Inter in league and European play, will certainly have his sights set on showing billionaire's Real Madrid that their choosing of big-money buys over class was a tremendous mistake.

In the end, the Champions League has once again shown why it is one of the most exciting and unpredictable competitions in the world. This has been the year that the dominant English clubs were defeated, the planet's most entertaining team was shocked, and Mourinho's never tiring mouth stayed open for longer than ever before.

Let's just hope that the final is as thrilling as these last fixture's have proved.

And, of course, that Italian's realize that the best way to win football matches is perhaps by playing with no Italians at all.