BARCELONA, Spain -- The good news is Barcelona and Inter Milan will do it all again next week.
At the end of a breathless night at the Olympic Stadium when Inter threatened to spring a surprise and Lamine Yamal again proved himself to be one of the best players in the world, the two teams could not be separated. Both might feel they could have won an extraordinary encounter, but both will ultimately also be satisfied with a 3-3 draw that was everything you want from a UEFA Champions League semifinal.
Inter, as their coach Simone Inzaghi promised before the match, forgot the three defeats they suffered in the past week to score three times away against Barça, including inside the first 30 seconds. They were ruthless at set plays and posed a threat on the counterattack in the second half when they managed to play through Barça's press. Only a marginal offside call against Henrikh Mkhitaryan prevented them returning to Milan for Tuesday's second leg with a victory.
But this Barça side does not know when it's beaten. They rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to snatch a draw and keep their hopes of progressing alive. Hansi Flick's side has its flaws, and they were exposed at times here, but, led by the fearless 17-year-old Yamal, they are also great fun. He scored Barça's first goal, an incredible solo effort, to get the hosts back into the game, hit the woodwork twice and created a handful of chances for his teammates.
"We could have won this game against a team who have a player who is difficult to stop," Inzaghi said after the game of Yamal. "We started well, but in the last 25 minutes [of the first half] they created a lot of problems. He created a lot of problems.
"He is a player I had not seen live before. We had to double up on him. We managed it better in the second half and could even have won. Yamal is a phenomenon born every 50 years. We made some adjustments to improve how we dealt with him after the break, which is not easy. He really impressed me today."
The tie had been billed as a clash of styles: Inter's wily defense, which conceded only once in eight matches in the league phase of the competition, against Europe's top scorers. There were elements of that during the game, notably once Inter went up two goals and again later, but this match did not follow the script many would have expected.
After three defeats in a week, crashing out of the Coppa Italia and ceding the lead in Serie A to Napoli, Inter have seen their treble hopes disappear. A trophyless season has become a real possibility, but if that is to be the case, they are going to go down fighting.
A wild first half began with Marcus Thuram, back from injury, opening the scoring with the quickest goal in Champions League semifinal history, converting Denzel Dumfries' cross with a brilliant flick after only 30 seconds. When right wing back Dumfries -- who had great joy against rookie left back Gerard Martín, forcing him to be taken off at halftime -- doubled the lead with an acrobatic effort from a corner after only 21 minutes, an eery silence fell around the stadium.
Barça's supporters had begun the evening with a banner reading: "One mission, the final." But at that point in the game, their only mission was trying to fight back from two goals down against the reigning Italian champions.
Luckily for Barça, they have Yamal. The teenager, who said this week that he hasn't felt any fear for years, dating to when he played with older kids in his hometown of Mataró, north of Barcelona, led Barça's comeback before halftime on his 100th appearance for the club, two years and one day after he made his debut at 15.
The Spain international scored a super first goal, driving into the box, beating defenders and then opening his body to curl the ball in off the post with his left foot. He then hit the bar from an impossible angle and created chance after chance before Barça, via Ferran Torres after good work form Pedri and Raphinha, finally equalized.
"I think Lamine in the first half was so important for us because he created a lot of positive things and scored the first goal," Flick said.
Yamal's display was all the more impressive given he had felt a twinge in a muscle during warmups. There was a moment before kickoff when a whisper went around that he might not be fit to start the game. During those nervous few minutes, there was genuinely a feeling the pendulum might have just swung in Inter's favor.
"He felt a little bit but everything was checked and he had the green light to play," Flick confirmed. "I think he's ... he's special. He's a genius. He shows in the big matches like today how good he is. I think he also enjoys the situation. I am really happy that this talent who comes every 50 years [as Inzaghi says] can play for Barcelona."
But it was not all about Yamal. Inter came to play. They regrouped and were better after the break -- despite losing captain Lautaro Martínez to injury -- at dealing with Yamal and exploiting the space behind Barça's high line in transitions.
Ultimately, though, it was their set plays that made the difference. A second Dumfries goal from a corner restored their lead in the 63rd minute.
"We know they are one of the best teams in Europe at set pieces," Flick said. "When you see how tall they are, but we have to defend it better."
Craig Burley was full of praise Lamine Yamal after the 17-year-old scored in Barcelona's 3-3 draw with Inter in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal.
Raphinha said to concede three goals at home was "unacceptable."
Within two minutes, though, Barça were level. Raphinha's thunderous strike hit the bar and rebounded in off the back of the unfortunate Yann Sommer.
From there, as the tension rose, the game could have gone either way. A Pau Cubarsí challenge on Thuram was celebrated like a goal, Mkhitaryan's strike was narrowly ruled out for offside, Yamal hit the bar again and stoppage time ended with Sommer producing a sublime save on Raphinha.
They will go again Tuesday at San Siro. Barça hope to have Alejandro Balde and Robert Lewandowski back, while Jules Koundé also picked up a knock against Inter. Inzaghi said Martínez is a major doubt for the Italians.
"I am proud of a fantastic team of players that came here and played a game like this against the most attacking team in the world," Inzaghi said. "The second leg will be tough like today. We were excellent in moments, but there were other spells when had to suffer, knowing we're against a good side in Barça. But they also realized they have a great Inter side in front of them who are very difficult to stop."