Inter 1-0 Barcelona: Calhanoglu strike moves Nerazzurri up to second

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Inter eased the pressure on under-fire head coach Simone Inzaghi with a victory over Barcelona that could prove to be crucial.

A brilliant strike from Hakan Calhanoglu gave Inter a 1-0 UEFA Champions League win over Barcelona that moved them into second place in Group C.

The Nerazzurri had already seen a goal disallowed before Calhanoglu fired past Marc-Andre ter Stegen in first-half extra time at the San Siro on Tuesday.

The LaLiga leaders improved in the second period and saw an own goal ruled out when Pedri’s tap-in from Ansu Fati’s ball was ruled out.

But despite late pressure and a penalty shout for Barca, they held on under fire from Simone Inzaghi’s men to claim the three points that moved them above the Catalan giants.

Inter thought they had been awarded a penalty when Joaquin Correa’s flick-on went off the arm of Eric Garcia, but after referee Slavko Vincic looked at the pitch monitor, Lautaro Martinez was ruled marginally offside in the play-off.

Correa then had a goal disallowed, showed great composure to round Ter Stegen and finish, only to watch the linesman’s flag go up before he could celebrate.

Calhanoglu broke Inter’s deadlock with a superb first-half injury-time strike, taking a touch to control Federico Dimarco’s pass before firing into the bottom-left corner from 25 yards.

Ousmane Dembele almost equalized when his drive from a tight angle came back off the left post as Barcelona pressed after the break.

Xavi’s men then got a goal back as Dembele’s cross caused havoc in the Inter box before Pedri finished, but only after Andre Onana tipped the ball onto Fatih’s hand.

There were strong calls for a Barcelona penalty in stoppage time when the ball appeared to come off Denzel Dumfries’ arm, but no free kick was awarded after a VAR review and Inter held on for three valuable points.

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