Barcelona Dominates Timid Inter Milan

With their backs to the wall and without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi, and Yaya Toure, Barcelona completely embarrassed Inter Milan at Camp Nou on Tuesday. Although the final score line will only read two goals to zero, Barcelona was of a different class than the Italian Champions.

Inter, Serie A leaders by five points, sat back the entire first half and made almost no effort to go forward. Even in the second half when they needed to claw back, the Nerrazuri had no clear cut chances.

As poor as Jose Mourinho’s side was, credit must go to Barcelona, who had the Inter defense chasing shadows for most of the game. Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta were back to their best, while Pedro filled in fantastically for Lionel Messi.

Thierry Henry was back in the starting line up for the first time since returning from the fiasco in Paris last week, and although the French captain failed to get on the score sheet, he was active up front, winning a few free kicks in dangerous situations.

“Titi” also had a hand in the goal (pardon the pun), flicking on Xavi’s corner to the back post where Gerard Pique stuck out his right foot to bundle the ball into the net.

The first goal was scrappy and typical of a team missing two of its biggest stars, but Barca’s second was reminiscent of last season’s free flowing, artful play.

After brilliant link up play through the midfield, Xavi played a great ball to Dani Alves down the right, and the former Sevilla star played in a cross to the back post for Pedro to volley past Cesar, who badly misjudged the shot.

With a two goal lead, Barcelona coasted through the second half, although they did create a few more opportunities, most notably a header from Xavi nine minutes in, but Julio Cesar pulled off a truly world class save to keep the score line respectable.

Rather than pushing forward and trying to win the match, Mourinho’s men were reduced to cynical fouls. Ten minutes from the end, Christian Chivu clattered into Andres Iniesta but escaped with only a yellow card.

Moments later, Thiago Motta, a former Barcelona player, was lucky not to be sent off for a clumsy challenge on Dani Alves while already carrying a yellow card.

On the rare occasion that Inter did go forward, their strikers, Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o, spent more time arguing with each other or writhing on the ground looking for fouls than shooting on goal.

Mourinho will be very disappointed with his side that not only lacked creativity, but also the desire and hustle needed to win an important Champions League match. At times, it appeared that Inter was just happy to only be down by two goals. Overall, it was an inept performance from a team that entered the season with hopes of winning the Champions League for that first time since 1965.

Pep Guardiola will be very pleased with his team, but probably surprised as to how easy Barcelona brushed aside one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Guardiola was also surely relieved to have saved Ibrahimovic and Messi, both of whom were on the bench. Now, all of Barcelona will be hoping for both players to be fit in time for Sunday’s match against arch rival Real Madrid.

Some of the only questions that can be raised about Barcelona’s performance is the substitution policy of Guardiola. In recent weeks, the Barca manager has come under criticism for waiting so long to makes changes in his team, especially during a scoreless draw against Rubin Kazan and Saturday’s tie against Athletic Bilbao.

This time around, Guardiola’s team was seemingly stuck in cruise control and in need of a spark to kill off the game, but Pep waited until five minutes from time to bring on Bojan for Pedro. Should Barcelona be in a tight match against Real Madrid, a player like Bojan will need time to make an impact.

No one can take away the fact that Barcelona played brilliantly in the first half, but they will need to improve when Real Madrid, who will certainly pose more of an attacking threat, comes to town.