Strange things happen when Inter Milan plays Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals. The last time the two teams met in the final four of Europe’s elite club competition, in 2010, Barcelona had to make a 15-hour journey by bus to Milan and lost that first leg 3-1.

Benjamin Pavard is set to miss the tie after suffering a sprained ankle in last weekend’s loss to Roma. He had played the most Champions League minutes of any outfielder in Simone Inzaghi’s squad and scored what proved to be the winning goal as Inter edged Bayern Munich 4-3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.

Barcelona is back in the Champions League semifinals for the first time since the 2018-19 season, on the back of by far the best attack in the new-look, 36-team league stage. With