Barcelona: Luis Suarez scored two classy goals to inspire Barcelona to a 2-1 comeback win over Inter Milan in their Champions League encounter Wednesday and inflict a first defeat on Antonio Conte since he took charge of the Italian side.
Inter Milan, who lead Serie A after winning all six domestic games under Conte, produced a wonderful first half display and took the lead in the second minute through Argentine forward Lautaro Martinez.
Barcelona had struggled to get going but looked more like their usual dominant selves on European nights at the Camp Nou after the break and deservedly pulled level in the 58th minute through a superb swivelling volley from Luis Suarez.
The Catalans caught Inter Milan out on the counter-attack to take the lead in the 84th minute, with captain Lionel Messi feeding Suarez who produced a cool low finish to prompt relieved celebrations among the 86,000 fans in the stadium.
The win put Barcelona second in Group F with four points from two games, the same as leaders Borussia Dortmund who won 2-0 at Slavia Prague. Inter have one point.
“This is a very valuable victory for us against a direct rival,” Luis Suarez told reporters after the game. “We were aware that if we continued playing like we had in the first half we could lose but the key thing was we stayed patient and were able to create chances.”
But it was Inter Milan who shone at the start. Inter forward Alexis Sanchez found a hole in his former side’s defence with a superb through ball into the path of Martinez, who raced into the box and slid to the floor to send a shot flying past Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Conte’s side did not look to sit on their goal and outplayed Barca in the first half, holding on to possession for long periods while doggedly pressing the hosts and picking them off on the counter-attack with ease.
It took a superb save from Ter Stegen to prevent Lautaro scoring again with a header, while Italian midfielder Stefano Sensi flashed a shot narrowly over the bar.
Barcelona were facing their first home defeat in the Champions League group stage since losing to Rubin Kazan in 2009 but were transformed after coach Ernesto Valverde replaced Sergio Busquets with Arturo Vidal.
The Chile midfielder was given the freedom to roam forward and provided the cross from which Suarez scored his unstoppable volley, which appeared to demoralise Inter Milan while galvanising Barca, who were worthy winners in the end.
Conte, meanwhile, rued his side not making the most of their outstanding performance in the first half.
“It’s nice to receive compliments after a performance like that but we deserved much more from the game,” Conte said. “We proved we could cause Barca real problems but it’s a shame we couldn’t take our chances and kill the game.”
Agencies