Tempers flared between Barcelona and Inter Milan as an alleged spitting incident occurred between two rival defenders.
After Hakan Calhanoglu put Inter 2-0 up in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie and 5-3 ahead on aggregate, centre-back Francesco Acerbi was running back to his own half when Barcelona‘s Inigo Martinez appeared to spit in his direction.
@Arkos71 - XMartinez may find himself in hot water over an alleged spitting incident[/caption] A visibly frustrated Acerbi had to be held back by Pedri and teammatesGettyHowever, the alleged incident was not picked up by VAR.
Had VAR clocked it, Martinez may have been sent off given spitting at an opposition player is deemed an offence worthy of a red card.
Acerbi continued to protest and he pointed in the direction of a Barcelona player.
The irate Italian had to be held back by Barcelona’s Pedri and teammates as referee Szymon Marciniak moved to calm things down.
Martinez then picked up Barcelona’s first booking of the evening in the 51st minute when he chopped down Marcus Thuram.
But the visitors soon flipped the script on the evening in the space of six blistering minutes.
Defender Eric Garcia halved the deficit in the 54th minute before Dani Olmo netted the equaliser on the hour mark.
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick opted to play it safe as he brought Martinez off in the 76th minute in place of Ronald Araujo.
Barcelona completed the comeback in the 87th minute when Raphinha slotted home the rebound after his initial effort was kept out by Yann Sommer.
It took the Brazilian winger’s Champions League tally to 13 this term, just one fewer than Lionel Messi‘s record haul in the competition for Barcelona.
AFPAcerbi may have had the last laugh over Martinez with his last-minute equaliser[/caption] Davide Frattesi got the equaliser with this neat finishGetty It sparked pandemonium in the San SiroGettyYet there was one final twist in regular time when Acerbi fired home Denzel Dumfries’ low cross in the third minute of stoppage-time.
Acerbi picked up a yellow card for his troubles as he whipped off his shirt in celebration.
Superstar winger Lamine Yamal had a glorious chance to score the latest of winners, but his toe-poke was kept out by Sommer.
It proved to be a costly miss as Inter re-took the lead in the 99th minute via Davide Frattesi.
Substitute forward Mehdi Taremi played the ball into Frattesi’s feet and the midfielder produced a clinical finish inside the box to put Inter 4-3 ahead on the night and 7-6 on aggregate.
It proved to be the decisive blow as Inter punched their ticket to the Champions League final in Munich on May 31 where they will meet the winner of the Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal tie.
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