Jose Mourinho seems to have the formula to win the UEFA Champions League, or at least make it to the finals. In 2004 he won the UCL with F.C. Porto, in 2003 he also won the UEFA cup (Europa League).

This year he will be part of another final, this time with Inter Milan facing Bayern Munich in the Santiago Bernabeu.

After the 3-1 defeat at San Siro (The Stadio Guiseppe Meazza), Barcelona needed a 2-0 victory at home to make it to the finals. Barca Tv aired a commercial in which players like Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Victor Valdes and Lionel Messi used the slogan “We will leave our skin behind in the field to reach the finals” to pump the crowd.

98,000 Blaugranas we present at the Nou Camp in what I called an anticipated final.
Lineups:

F.C. Barcelona: 1. Valdes; 2. Alves, 3. Pique, 18. Milito; 6. Xavi, 15. Keita, 16. Busquets, 24. Yaya Toure; 09. Ibrahimovic, 10. Messi, 17. Pedro.

Inter Milan: 12. Julio Cesar; 4. Zannetti, 6. Lucio, 25. Samuel, 13. Maicon; 26. Chivu, 8. Motta, 10. Sneijder, 19. Cambiasso; 9. Eto’o, 22. Milito

The most notable absents from this match are Carles Puyol, Pandev and Iniesta. The first one suspended, and the last two out with respective injuries.

Inter played a man short for nearly 60 minutes when midfielder Thiago Motta was red carded for an aggression against midfielder Sergio Busquets.

The side coached by Jose Mourinho sat deep and flooded the last line, a good tactical approach considering the 3-1 aggregate score. In the first half Barca did not trouble Inter; the clearest chance was a shot by Lionel Messi that Julio Cesar deflected.
Things changed in the second half; most of it was played on Inter’s defensive side. However players like Xavi, Messi and Pedro didn’t really challenge the goal defended by Julio Cesar, part of this goes to Walter Samuel, the Argentine International played a good match and showed stability in the back.

Barca missed a very clear chance when Bojan headed the ball wide uncontested. If the young forward had headed the ball straight instead of turning his head, the outcome would have been different.

When everyone’s hopes were almost vanished, Gerard Pique broke the deadlock and put Guardiola’s side 1 goal away from the finals; the goal was a true work of art. Pique received a clinical pass from Xavi, the Spain international trapped the ball and turned inside as he was being confronted by Ivan Cordoba and slipped the ball into the far post.

The 98,000 local crowd ratified their presence as the 12th man and pushed the team forward for the last 10 minutes in the match.

In the last minutes of the match Barcelona could have left with a victory. Yaya Toure trapped the ball and found Bojan on a scoring position; the canterano took this chance and put the ball in the back of the net. However, the referee denied the goal for an alleged handball, a clear mistake by the Belgian referee Frank de Bleeckere. The ball struck Toure on the belly, and even thou his hand was near there was no contact with it.

Inter reached a European final for the first time since 1972; Mourinho has a chance to win his second UCL and it could be a special final against one of his great tutors, Louis Van Gaal. Inter reached a dream final. And according to a previous statement by Jose, Barcelona’s hopes for a Bernabeu final was not a dream but an obsession.