Inter Milan Shock Barcelona At San Sero

Inter Milan threw a spanner in the works last night as they came from behind to beat favourites Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi final.

The Spanish giants, and current Champions League Cup holders, travelled to the San Sero in a bid to make it to two consecutive finals.

And it wasn't long before Barcelona had secured the all important away goal as Pedrito found the back of the net in the nineteenth minute.

The visitors had dominated the early stages of play and keeper Victor Valdes had kept the scores level as he saved a shot from Samuel Eto.

Despite losing the possession battle Milan were strong in defence and were able to keep a rather subdued Lionel Messi at bay.

But they began to threaten the deep they went into the first half and on the thirty minute mark Sneijder blasted in the equaliser.

Into the second half and Milan seemed to have the measure of Barcelona as they denied the visitors the space to move the ball around.

Goran Pandev could have made it 2-1 just after the break as he pushed a Milito cross just wide.

But the Italians kept pushing forward and it wasn't long before they did find themselves ahead.

A mistake from Messi, losing the ball in his own half, gave Inter the chance to break forward. Milito led the charge and found Maicon who beat keeper Valdes.

With a 2-1 lead Milan were now well and truly in command of the tie as Barcelona began to look flustered and struggled to string together a series of passes.

And just after the hour mark Milan found the back of the net for a third time to give themselves a commanding lead going into next week's match at the Nou Camp.

In the dying minutes of the game Barcelona found a little something extra and began to pepper the Milan goal but to no avail.

With the second leg a week away Barcelona now have a mountain to climb if they want to follow in the footsteps of AC Milan and become the first team for twenty years to defend the Champions League title.

After the match Barcelona's manager Pep Guardiola refused to blame the long journey on the loss telling Sky Sorts: "I don't want to make excuses.

"It was a long trip, that is true, but this is the semi-finals of the Champions League and the desire to reach the final should be important enough.

"It's okay, though, this happens."

Barcelona had been forced to travel by coach to the San Sero because of the volcanic ash that has disrupted air travel.