Brozovic sliding block: Inter Milan’s midfielder Marcelo Brozovic made an incredible block, as he did behind the wall for Suarez’s free-kick.
Barcelona cruised to victory in their third Champions League game of the season against Inter Milan. A Messi-less Barca side didn’t face many problems, as goals from Rafinha and Jordi Alba across the two halves secured three points for the Catalan side.
With this win, Barcelona retain their position at the top of their Champions League group. Inter Milan is at second, while Tottenham are at third with only one point, after a disappointing 2-2 draw against PSV.
Ernesto Valverde’s side will now return to La Liga action as they take on arch-rivals Real Madrid in season’s first El Clasico. The match will be played at Camp Nou.
However, we can’t move forward to Spain’s heavyweight clash without talking about Marcelo Brozovic’s rather unorthodox style of defending against Barcelona.
Brozovic sliding block:
It happened when Luis Suarez was lining up for a free-kick on the edge of the box. Usually, the wall jumps in this setup.
However, Brozovic intelligently decides to lie down and slide. Incredibly, he saved his goalkeeper the trouble of making a save as Suarez decided to roll the ball under the wall.
❗ Full-time | Barcelona 2-0 Inter.
• A satisfying display from the Messi-less Barcelona in front of the home fans with two brilliant team goals.
• Another mesmerizing performance from Arthur. He has truly settled in.
• We are now on top of our UCL group. pic.twitter.com/SP8eYpkhF5
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) October 24, 2018
The clever block by Brozovic was so good, that an injured Lionel Messi, who was watching the game from the stands couldn’t resist a chuckle.
Brozovic’s extraordinary decision to prevent the goal, however, failed to prevent the loss for the Italian side.
Here is the video:
Watch Brozovic block Suarez’s free-kick. Genius
— Real Talk Football (@RealTlkFootball) October 24, 2018
The block might have led Messi to laugh, but has Inter Milan’s midfielder introduced a new tactic to defend free-kicks? It might well be possible.
What next?
Barcelona will travel to Italy to play the return leg of their Champions League group stage against Inter Milan.
Rafinha was the guy who displaced Icardi as the starting lineup at Barcelona youth team, because they started playing with a “false 9” – prompting Icardi to move to Sampdoria.
Quite ironic that he has scored his first Champions League goal as a false 9 against Icardi.— Michael Yokhin (@Yokhin) October 24, 2018
Valverde’s side will return to La Liga, where they aim to further create problems for Julen Lopetegui, who is under immense pressure for lack of results. Real Madrid are currently 7th in the league and speculations of the Spanish manager facing the sack have grown heavily over the last week.