It was a chaotic first leg of the UEFA Champions League at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, with Inter’s Denzel Dumfries particularly impressing in the 3-3 draw with Barcelona.
When speaking to CBS Sports after Inter’s 3-3 draw with Barcelona in Wednesday’s dramatic UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg, Denzel Dumfries was fielding the tough, hard-hitting questions.
Pundit and former player Micah Richards asked the Dutch international: “I would just like to know, are you named after the famous [actor] Denzel Washington?” to which Dumfries – having presumably been asked this question hundreds of times in his life – replied “Yes, I’m named after the famous Denzel Washington.”
It was appropriate for a man named after a two-time Oscar winner to make himself the star of the show as Barcelona and Inter played out a Champions League classic at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
It was anything but a Training Day for Dumfries, despite it being his first start since missing eight games with a hamstring injury. Having not started a match since Inter’s 2-0 win at Atalanta in mid-March, the right wing-back looked like he hadn’t missed a beat, scoring twice (though neither of his goals were The Equalizer).
He started with an assist, and wasted no time in getting it. Within the opening 30 seconds, Dumfries put in a cross that was only partially dealt with by Barcelona, before sending in another that was delightfully turned in with a clever flick from Marcus Thuram.
The hosts were stunned, and Dumfries was at the centre of things again as he volleyed in acrobatically from Francesco Acerbi’s header from a corner to double Inter’s lead after 21 minutes.
Barcelona brought it back to 2-2 largely thanks to an inspired showing from Lamine Yamal at the other end, but in the 63rd minute Dumfries scored again, getting on the end of another corner to head Inter back in front at the far post.
He very nearly had a fourth goal involvement of the night when his superb ball from the right was met by Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the far post to score, but the Armenian was ruled offside by the length of his toes.
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1 hour ago Ali TweedaleNonetheless, with his two goals and one assist, Dumfries became the first Dutch player to both score and assist in a Champions League semi-final since Wesley Sneijder in April 2010, who coincidentally also did so for Inter against Barcelona in a first leg (a 3-1 win for the Nerazzurri at San Siro).
Dumfries is also only the third Dutch player ever to score twice in a Champions League semi-final, after Phillip Cocu for PSV in 2005 (vs Milan) and Georginio Wijnaldum for Liverpool in 2019 (vs Barcelona).
Before the game, we had anticipated that Inter could trouble Barcelona down the flanks, though admittedly assumed Federico Dimarco would be the greater threat down the left.
As it turned out, it was Dumfries down the right who was the chief weapon. Their attacking touches were fairly evenly split on each side, but it was the right where the Italian side’s chances were mostly created.
A lot of the post-match talk had been about the astonishing talents of 17-year-old Barça star Yamal, but it was Dumfries who was awarded Player of the Match by UEFA.
Two-goal hero Dumfries is the Player of the Match#UCL pic.twitter.com/lUiCYN9JKc
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 30, 2025He scored with both of his shots, and now has 10 goals in 40 games in all competitions this season; only strikers Lautaro Martínez (21) and Thuram (18) have more goals for Inter in 2024-25.
Inzaghi’s side largely played on the counter-attack, only having 28.5% possession, but it was all by design as their wing-backs so often provided an outlet for getting up the pitch, trying to take advantage of Barça’s high line. Dumfries had six touches in the Barcelona penalty area, at least twice as many as any of his teammates, while only Nicolò Barella (11) made as many passes in the final third as his eight.
The 29-year-old also did his job defensively, winning all five of his aerial duels, while only Mkhitaryan won possession more often (6). Dumfries won nine of 12 duels overall, the most of anyone in the game.
The tie is finely poised ahead of the return leg in Milan next Tuesday, and you would assume Barcelona boss Hansi Flick and his staff will spend much of the next few days working on ways to try and limit Dumfries’ impact in that game.
If he keeps putting in performances like this on the big stage, though, who knows? Before long, we could see babies being named after this famous Denzel.
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Man on Fire: Denzel Dumfries Plays Crucial Attacking Role as Inter Take Step Towards Champions League Final Opta Analyst.
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