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#4 Inter Milan vs. Barcelona – Semi-Finals, 2009-10
By the turn of the decade, Mourinho had cemented his reputation as a serial winner with Chelsea – and following his surprising sacking during the 2007-08 campaign, he’d moved to Italy with Inter Milan, where he won the Scudetto at his first attempt. But it was the 2009-10 season that saw his greatest triumph in the Champions League – and arguably the best part of it didn’t come in the final.
After winning the 2008-09 edition of the competition by defeating holders Manchester United, the football world was quick to crown Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side as the greatest in the history of the game, and many observers believed that his team’s revolutionary tiki-taka style was practically unbeatable.
Mourinho proved that idea firmly wrong though by masterminding a victory for his Inter side over La Blaugrana across two legs in the semi-finals of the 2009-10 edition, with the Italian champions coming out 3-2 winners on aggregate.
The first leg was a true Mourinho masterclass; his Inter side gave up 71% of possession to Guardiola’s men, but worked phenomenally hard, pressing the Spanish side heavily and hitting them with swift counter-attacks. And so after falling behind to Pedro’s 19th minute goal, Mourinho’s Nerazzurri hit back through Wesley Sneijder, Maicon and Diego Milito to take a 3-1 lead into the second leg at the Nou Camp.
Even that didn’t guarantee the victory, but in another classic performance from a Mourinho team, Inter put together a display of incredible defensive toughness, shutting Guardiola’s side out and reducing them to just 7 shots on target despite giving up 76% possession.
A late goal from Gerard Pique handed Barca the win on the night, but less than 10 minutes later, the Italian side were through – prompting another wild show of joy from the Portuguese boss, who sprinted wildly down the touchline in a scene reminiscent of his famous celebration against Manchester United 6 years earlier.
