— (Reuters) Hakan Calhanoglu’s goal gave Inter Milan an important 1-0 victory over Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, helping the team recover from two straight Serie A losses.
In the final seconds before halftime, the Turkish midfielder drilled home a precise shot from just beyond the box, sending the ball into the corner to the goalkeeper’s right.
With six points after the victory at home, Inter moved into second position in Group C, three points behind Bayern Munich and three ahead of Barcelona.
Barca and Inter will square off once more at the Camp Nou the following week, with a third loss in four games putting Barca in jeopardy of exiting the Champions League at the group stage for the second consecutive year.
Inter entered the game having lost four of their previous six games overall. They are currently ninth in the Serie A standings, eight points behind the leaders Napoli and Atalanta, and four points out of the European qualification slots.
As the new LaLiga leaders and with striker Robert Lewandowski on a tear, scoring in six straight LaLiga match weeks, Barcelona came.
But the star attacker from Poland failed to make an impact at San Siro, finishing with no shots on goal after being shut down by Inter’s five-man defence.
Barcelona received a break in the 24th minute when a prospective penalty for a handball by Eric Garcia inside the area was overturned by the VAR check because it discovered a close offside in the build-up.
The very next play, a Joaquin Correa score for Inter Milan was disallowed for yet another offside.
However, Calhanoglu’s accurate, low shot at the end of the first half allows them to break the tie.
Although Barcelona dominated ball possession, Ousmane Dembele was the only bright spot up front, generating the few openings that Barcelona had.
The French winger had two cross-shots in the first half that were barely wide, then midway through the second half, he thundered a close-range shot off the right post.
Dembele persisted until he perfectly placed Pedri’s cross in his path, but Barca’s potential equaliser was disallowed as the VAR probe revealed an Ansu Fati handball just prior to Pedri’s score.
In the last minutes, Barca applied pressure with long balls and crosses.
In the extra period, their players cried out for a penalty, claiming that substitute Denzel Dumfries may have handled the ball inside the penalty area. However, the referee decided there had been no infraction by the Dutch defender following a VAR review.
“I’m so furious; it’s obvious that there should be punishment for that. It’s unfair, Xavi Hernandez exclaimed indignantly to Movistar Plus.
“We don’t understand anything, which is why I stated yesterday (at the news conference) that the referees should come out and explain their decisions,”
Inter Milan defeats Barcelona with a goal from Calhanoglu
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