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Robert Lewandowski scored two late goals to win Barcelona a point in a tense 3-3 draw with Inter Milan on Wednesday, keeping their feeble Champions League chances alive.
Barcelona is still facing elimination from the competition’s group stage for the second consecutive season, but Lewandowski’s stoppage-time equaliser has given them a slender hope of progressing with two games remaining.
Inter must defeat Viktoria Plzen at home next week in order to join Bayern Munich in the last 16.
“It’s bad, I think this Champions League is being very cruel to us,” Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez told Movistar Plus.
“Now it is out of our hands. What is left for us is to turn our attention quickly to Sunday’s El Clasico (against Real Madrid), bounce back and focus on LaLiga because the Champions League became very difficult and complicated for us.”
Until last season, Barcelona had reached at least the round of 16 in the Champions League in every season since 2001, but they now face relegation to the Europa League for the second season in a row.
Barcelona opened aggressively, backed up by their fans at a sold-out Camp Nou, with Raphinha at the heart of their attack, and Inter goalkeeper Andre Onana made three excellent saves from Brazilian strikes.
Inter took the lead one minute from time when Robin Gosens finished off a counter-attack, but Lewandowski’s bullet header three minutes later saved Barcelona, who sit third in Group C with four points, three behind Inter and eight behind Bayern Munich.
“Soccer is a game of mistakes and we can’t afford those in situations like this. “This is the Champions League and you pay a high price for each error you make,” Xavi said.
“You need to win, to defend well, to score. We needed to play the entire game like we did in the first half. That intensity. Now it’s hard because we are not in control anymore.”
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