Garcia: Barcelona 'need to be proud' despite Champions League exit

Eric Garcia says Barcelona "need to be proud" of what they have accomplished this season, despite their Champions League semi-final loss to Inter.

Barcelona were beaten 4-3 at San Siro in the second leg, losing 7-6 on aggregate, but came from 2-0 down at half-time on Tuesday.

Lautaro Martinez and Hakan Calhanoglu had given Inter the lead, but Garcia and Dani Olmo dragged Barca level by the hour before Raphinha thought he had taken them to the final with an 87th-minute goal.

However, Lamine Yamal hit the post before Francesco Acerbi scored a stoppage-time equaliser. Davide Frattesi then netted an extra-time winner to deny Hansi Flick's side a place in the showpiece.

Barcelona scored 43 goals in this season's Champions League, with only the Blaugrana themselves (45 in 1999-2000) netting more in a single campaign in the competition's history. However, they also conceded 24 goals in the competition this term, their highest ever total in a season.

This marks the eighth time Barca have been eliminated at the semi-final stage (since 1992-93), the joint most of any team (level with Real Madrid), failing to progress on four of the last five occasions they have appeared in the final four. 

The defeat to Inter ended their hopes of a treble, though they are still on track to collect three domestic trophies, as they sit top of LaLiga, after also winning the Supercopa de Espana and the Copa del Rey.

"I think in the first half, going 2-0 down was tough. The reaction we had in the second half was amazing," Garcia told Amazon Prime.

"We had even more chances to close the game. It is from decisions made, but that is football, and we need to be really proud of what we did.

"We have got to get going [for the rest of the season], we need to be proud.

"Our fans this season, we had – nobody believed in us at the beginning [of the season]. A lot of changes and changing the manager, really young players, and we need to be proud."

Barcelona gave away a penalty just before half-time when Pau Cubarsi tackled Martinez, with the spot-kick given after a VAR review as the Inter captain had reached the ball first.

Flick's side also had a penalty of their own overturned in the second half, with VAR deeming the contact made by Henrikh Mkhitaryan on Yamal started outside the box.

The youngster came very close to winning the game for Barca on multiple occasions, with Yann Sommer, as he did in the first leg, making some spectacular saves to ensure Inter made it to their second final in three years.

Overall, despite being frustrated by the result and some of the decisions during the game, Flick was delighted with the fight Barcelona showed.

"I'm very disappointed that we're out – but I'm not disappointed about the performance of my team. They tried everything," he said.

"We're out, but next year we'll start again, and we'll make our fans, the club and everyone around us happy.

"They [Inter] are a really good team, a strong team who defend well, but also they have a really good striker.

"In the second half, we were really good. I don't want to speak about the referee, but every 50-50 decision was for them. We gave everything, but in the end, it was like that, and that's what made me a bit sad."