MILAN: Inter Milan beat Barcelona 4-3 after extra time in another rollercoaster encounter Tuesday to reach a second Champions League final in three years.
In the end it took extra time, two astonishing Barcelona fightbacks and 13 goals — some of them mesmerizing — to separate the two sides and see Inter prevail 7-6 on aggregate.
Substitute Davide Frattesi was the extra-time hero for Inter, firing home in the 99th minute to leave the Barcelona players slumped to the ground and all his Nerazzurri teammates — including those on the bench — racing to celebrate with him.
Moments earlier, Frattesi had been encouraging the already loud San Siro crowd to make more noise and the atmosphere grew even more feverish after his strike.
Inter, which lost the final to Manchester City in 2023, will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in Munich on May 31. PSG beat Arsenal 1-0 in London last week in their first match.
There was little sign of the drama to come at halftime, with Inter comfortably leading 2-0 after Lautaro Martínez scored and earned a penalty, which was converted by Hakan Çalhanoğlu.
But Barcelona had been in that position before, having gone 2-0 down early in the first leg last week before securing a thrilling 3-3 draw.
And Eric García scored nine minutes after the break before Dani Olmo headed in the equalizer six minutes later.
Raphina appeared to have secured the win for Barcelona when he put the Spanish side ahead two minutes before full time, tucking away the rebound after Yann Sommer had saved his initial shot.
However, 37-year-old Francesco Acerbi astonishingly leveled in stoppage time — with his first goal in European competition — to add another 30 minutes onto the tantalizing encounter.
Frattesi had proved crucial off the substitutes’ bench before, both for Italy and Inter, and so he was again, controlling Mehdi Taremi’s pass and dummying round Pau Cubarsí before curling past Wojciech Szczęsny.
Barcelona almost leveled again but Sommer made a fingertip save to push Lamine Yamal’s shot past his post.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will host the first Youth National Teams Championship between Aug. 28 and Sept. 9 with the participation of eight Gulf teams, the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation announced on Tuesday.
The new tournament will see participating teams divided into two groups, each consisting of four teams.
Each group’s top two teams will advance to the semifinals, according to a media statement, which added that the details regarding the draw dates will be announced soon.
The tournament marks the first age-category competition held under the supervision of the AGCFF.
It is also a step aimed at supporting and progressing the base of youth tournaments and reinforcing the focus on promising young players as the core foundation of the future of Gulf football.
The AGCFF is a regional sports organization dedicated to organizing and developing football in the Arabian Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Oman and Yemen. It has been best known for organizing the Arabian Gulf Cup, one of the region’s most prominent sporting events.
The idea of establishing the federation began with preparatory meetings held in 2015 under the name Gulf Football Federation. In May 2016, it was officially founded under the name Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation, reflecting its close connection to the oldest sports tournament in the region, the Gulf Cup.