In the UEFA Europa League's deadly Group C battle at dawn on Wednesday (5), Barcelona lost 0-1 to Inter Milan despite controlling the pace of the game on the road, losing three consecutive away matches with no points, the worst record in the club's history. After the loss, Barcelona ranked third with only three points from three matches, leaving them behind Inter Milan with six points and Bayern Munich with nine points, and facing a second consecutive year out of the UEFA Europa League group stage.
In this game, Barcelona was the dominant team, with 68% of the ball, but facing Inter's solid defense, they didn't have much to do, and could only "attack wildly" in the hope of breaking the deadlock. The 50 passes in the match was the highest record since Xavi took charge, among which Ousmane Dibili had 24 passes (only 5 successful), but failed to score a goal, instead, Chahanuogu scored a goal outside the penalty area in the first half of extra time.
In the second half, Barcelona continued to lay siege to Inter, but Robert Livundovsky was deadlocked and lost his means of attack. At the end of the game, Inter defender Dufex was suspected of handball in the penalty area, but after VAR replay, the referee decided that no penalty was needed, and Inter eventually won 1-0. After the match, Barcelona coach Xavi expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the VAR's decision: "I'm very angry, the referee needs to come out and explain his decision. We created a lot of chances in this game, but Inter only needed one shot from outside the box to win, and we have to play our next three group games as if they were finals."
Including the last tournament, Barcelona have lost three consecutive away matches in the UEFA Europa League without scoring a single goal, the worst record in the club's UEFA Europa League history. They return home to face Inter again in their next group game, which will be a crucial match to determine whether or not they make it out of the tournament. In the same group, Bayern Munich won 5-0 at home against Pershing Viktoria on Wednesday, and are at the top of the table with three wins in three matches, so they have a great chance to qualify.
