Real Madrid-Inter: Barella, a night to be canceled

Nicolò Barella is human. On the night that certifies the gap between our football and the cream of Europe, the future captain of Inter sticks on the stage that could have been his. Because Barella remains an absolute level midfielder that many big names like, but he betrayed against Real in three acts, ending up behind the blackboard in the presence of the marpioni Casemiro, Modric and Kroos. And his game ended with a red – perhaps also the result of fatigue from never having stopped since August – which risks putting him out of action not only for the first leg of the second round.

That vice

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The incriminated episode arrives in the 62nd minute, just after having climbed to the center for Brozovic’s exit. In a contrast in midfield, Militao charges Nicolò and with an elbow-arm he makes him fly on the advertising boards. Ours gets up and trims a reaction fist to the calf, but he doesn’t even hit the target well. Hint of a fight, Brych with the help of the Var gives a yellow to the Brazilian and a red to the former Cagliari. His game (but also that of Inter) ends here. Things that happen, but they don’t have to happen at these levels. Because Barella puts his teammates in difficulty also in perspective, that is the Champions League knockout stages expected for 10 years, against a very strong opponent (draw on Monday at 12). A jerk of nerves that brings back to the pre Inter Barella, the one who too often could not control his enthusiasm and flirted with cards. A defect that disappeared in the Nerazzurri – last year he played all the big matches as a warning for months – but reappeared at the Bernabeu.

Errors to the limit

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Even before that, however, Barella had entered the match report with two errors not from him. On Kroos’s goal he had misread Carvajal’s horizontal pass, leaving too much space for the German, then very good at finding the opposite corner with the left-handed. At the beginning of the second half, on the Calha-Lautaro axis, Nic had the golden ball to equalize, but from a good position he didn’t even find the door with his right foot. The photograph of a beautiful and bold Inter for an hour, but too light in the last twenty meters. An experience that will serve all the Nerazzurri in view of February. And it will especially serve a man who will also be a leader with four lungs and a father of three daughters, but who is still 24 years old.