"Barcelona returning to their rightful home, the Europa League" - Twitter erupts as toothless Barca lose crucial Champions League clash against Inter Milan

Barca dominated possession early on, but Inter had better chances in the first half. The Serie A side could have had a penalty in the 23rd minute after Eric Garcia handballed in his box.

However, VAR intervened, and Lautaro Martinez was adjudged to have been offside in the process.

The Nerazzurri took the lead in the dying embers of first-half stoppage time. Hakan Calhanagou found space on the edge of the Barca box to fire past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Barcelona came out with intent in the second half and had numerous opportunities at goal.

Ousmane Dembele went close in the 60th minute when his shot hit the post as the Blaugrana pressurized.

The Catalan giants thought they had equalized in the 66th minute when Pedri tapped in from close range following a problematic Dembele cross.

Pedri's celebrations were cut short when referee Slavko Vincic headed to the VAR pitchside monitor to check if there was a handball by Ansu Fati in the build-up.

His judgment was that the young Spaniard had used his hand, much to the ire of Barca boss Xavi.

The Spanish tactician received a booking for his protests as he stared down the barrel of a second consecutive defeat in Europe's elite club competition.

Barcelona bombarded Andre Onana's goal, but the Cameroonian goalkeeper was superb for Simone Inzaghi's side.

Despite sustained pressure from Barca and a penalty appeal being waved away late on, Inter saw out a vital victory that sees them sitting second in Group C.

Meanwhile, the Blaugrana are now third and trail the Serie A side by three points and have it all to do to qualify for the knockout stages.

Barcelona slip up in the Champions League

Many have touted Barca as one of the favorites to lift the Champions League come May next year.

The signings of Robert Lewandowski (who was extremely quiet tonight), Jules Kounde and Raphinha have enthused Blaugrana fans.

Yet they have handed Inter the initiative in the race for a likely second-place finish in Group C.

Barca will know they need to beat Bayern on October 26 with Inzaghi's men facing minnows Viktoria Plzen on matchday four who are without a single point.

It is a worrying time to be a Barcelona fan as they may just be heading back to the Europa League for the second year in a row.

About the author

Matthew is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who has been covering news, rumors and match reports for close to 3 years. Learning creative writing from University of Essex, he combined his skills and passion for football take up writing for the sport professionally.

Matthew always strives to go beyond a story and offer unique and lesser-known insights, while maintaining an unbiased tone in his articles. His reporting exploits at the company have helped him gain a humungous readership of 25 million, with one of his articles raking in a whopping 724,000 reads.

A Manchester United fan since childhood, Matthew admired Sir Alex Ferguson for his loyalty and brave coaching style. His favorite footballer is Thierry Henry, believing the Frenchman to be uniquely talented and charismatic. An ardent Three Lions fan, England's penalty shootout win over Colombia in 2018 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment of all time, and he believes that Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe will have a Ballon d’Or duopoly after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He also follows his local EFL League Two clubs AFC Wimbledon and Sutton United, and spends his free time watching and writing about professional wrestling. He also likes to work out, watch movies and go for night outs.

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