Raphinha unhappy with Barca´s defending after Inter thriller

Raphinha claimed Barcelona’s defending left much to be desired after their topsy-turvy 3-3 draw with Inter.

Barca and Inter played out a thriller in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie on Wednesday.

It marks the joint highest score in a Champions League semi-final game, alongside a 3-3 draw between Dynamo Kyiv and Bayern Munich in the first leg back in 1998-99.

In what was their 300th Champions League game, Barca failed to win at home despite scoring at least three goals for just a third time in the competition.

And Raphinha, who assisted Ferran Torres to make it 2-2 in the first half before then playing a crucial role in Barca’s second equaliser – his strike crashing off the crossbar and bouncing in off Yann Sommer – hit out the Blaugrana’s sloppy defence, even though Inter only managed to have seven shots worth a combined 0.91 expected goals.

“When you play at home like we did, the sensation is that we should have managed to earn a better result,” Raphinha told Movistar Plus.

“We can’t concede that many goals, especially at home. Sure, you have to give praise to our opponents who are strong and played well tonight but we are Barca and it’s our duty to win at home, that’s how it is.

“But the result is not that bad and it leaves it all open for the return leg in Milan so we will try to correct the mistakes so we can go there and grab the win that will take us to the final.”

Raphinha’s assist took him to eight for the campaign in the competition, just one shy of Luis Figo’s single-season Champions League record of nine.

The Brazil attacker is on 20 goal contributions in total in the Champions League this term, with only Cristiano Ronaldo (21 in 2013-14) having been directly involved in more goals in the competition in a season.