The FC Barcelona of Pep Guardiola fell squarely into a trap from which it was unable to get out Jose Mourinho, on the run, celebrated the pass to the grand european final pointing to the sky. Between Víctor Valdés and the Camp Nou sprinklers, the culés tried to ‘water down’ the Portuguese party, but it was too late. Inter Milaneventually champion of the Champions League, he had brought Pep Guardiola’s team down of the maximum continental competition at the gates of its second consecutive final. In the champion and almighty FC Barcelona had been overthrown. Now, 13 years after José Mourinho won the game against Sampedor, Inter Milan crosses the path of the Spanish coach againnow in manchester city.
Although the balance of Pep Guardiola before the box nerazzurri is positive, given the optimism and confidence of the citizens for the Istanbul final, what happened in those semifinals of the Champions League 2009/2010 still lingers in the minds of fans. Perhaps also in that of the Catalan coach. The culés solved the group stage matches against Inter Milan with a draw and a victory. So, As fate would have it, Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho met again, this time in the semifinals.
the FC Barcelona defended he qualification champion after lifting the ‘Orejona’ in 2009 and, with a hypothetical Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid on the horizon, the tie against José Mourinho’s pupils could not have started better. Pedro Rodríguez put the Blaugrana team ahead after 19 minutes in the first leg played at the Giuseppe Meazza. So, the Portuguese coach put his plan into action. The ‘gabbia’ (cage in Italian) designed by Jose Mourinho handcuffed Leo Messi and, consequently, Pep Guardiola’s team. The interistas not only managed to overcome the initial goal of the canary, but they would lead to total and absolute despair to the culé picture
He Inter Milan won 3-1 that first legthanks to goals from Wesley Sneijder, Maicon and Diego Milito. The return would be held at the Camp Nou and Pep Guardiola added another victory to his particular record of the confrontations against the team on nerazzurri and against José Mourinho, but Gerard Piqué’s goal was insufficient. Barça stayed in the semifinals.
The scenes so remembered of the Portuguese running through the grass of the Camp Nou arrived minutes after the central culé marked, in 83 ‘, the definitive 1-0. That Inter Milan defended tooth and nail the advantage achieved in the Going, and ended up getting away with it. Despite the fact that Thiago Motta was sent off shortly before half an hour of meeting, José Mourinho’s pupils kept a clean sheet for more than 50 minutes in numerical inferiority and against an overturned FC Barcelona. After one of the most vibrant European qualifiers in recent years, Inter Milan would win the Champions League. Luckily for the now Mancunian coach, he only had to wait a year to take his particular revenge: Barça was once again proclaimed European champion in 2011 after eliminate previously in semifinals against José Mourinho’s Real Madrid.
Since then, Inter Milan has not crossed the path of the Sampedor coach again. The one in Istanbul will be the second final of the Champions Leagueafter Porto 2021, that Pep Guardiola dispute in front of the group Skyblue. For its part, this will also be the first time that Manchester City will face the Interista team in an official match. Fate has wanted Inter Milan to be the last stumbling block on Pep Guardiola’s path to the third Champions League of his career on the bench, the first since 2011, as well as the first in Manchester City history.