Dumfries takes pride in Inter's fight after reaching Champions League final

Denzel Dumfries provided two assists to help Inter reach the Champions League semi-final after a dramatic second-leg showdown with Barcelona at San Siro ended 4-3 to the hosts.

A 3-3 draw in the first leg at Montjuic set the stage for another thriller, with Davide Frattesi booking Inter's spot in the final with an extra-time winner.

Dumfries set up Lautaro Martinez for the opener 21 minutes in, while Hakan Calhanoglu calmly doubled Inter's lead from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.

Barcelona fought back in the second half through goals from Eric Garcia and Dani Olmo to level the tie, and then took a late lead when Yann Sommer parried Raphinha's initial attempt straight back, allowing the Brazilian to coolly fire into the bottom corner.

A raucous end to the match saw Dumfries tee up Francesco Acerbi late on to force extra time, while Frattesi netted the winner in the 99th minute as Inter held on to progress to their sixth European Cup final.

Since manager Simone Inzaghi's arrival in 2021, the Nerazzurri are one of only two teams, along with Real Madrid, to reach the Champions League final more than once, having lost out to Manchester City in 2023.

Speaking to Amazon Prime after the match, Dumfries expressed great pride in the way his side fought across the tie.

"It was a crazy match again, seven goals [on Tuesday]. It was incredible," the Dutchman said.

"We fought until the end, and very proud of the way we fought today. Overall, I'm very happy that we're going to the final.

"I am very happy to help the team. I came back from injury, so it was not easy. But we have to fight every match for the colours of the club."

Dumfries added on manager Inzaghi: "He is an amazing manager. Since I arrived, he is doing very good things for the team. Overall, it is great stuff. Now we go [to Munich] to win."

The wing-back was also quick to remember the final Inter lost to Man City in Istanbul in 2023.

"Two years ago, we lost the final. And we know everything is possible. This year, we fight and we have objectives. Tomorrow we will see what team we have in the final."

Dumfries was one of Inzaghi's standout performers. He added to his two goals and one assist from the first leg with two more assists on Tuesday, making him just the fourth player in Champions League history to score two or more goals and provide two or more assists in a semi-final tie – after Alessandro Del Piero in 1997-98 (Juventus v Monaco) and Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino in 2017-18 (Liverpool v Roma).

In all, the Dutchman either scored or assisted five of Inter's seven goals against Barcelona in this tie.

Inter captain Lautaro Martinez echoed Dumfries' statements of pride and joy, while revealing that he was not fully fit ahead of the second leg.

"I am so happy. I am so proud of Inter Milan," Martinez told Amazon Prime.

"I am so grateful to the fans and to my family who are here today. I wasn't in a great place, and I wasn't 100% today, but the medical staff worked so hard to get me match fit.

"We will do what we can. We just have one more step to go. We want to go there and win it. We will do all we can to ensure that we get Inter Milan to the high summit of European football."

Martinez leads Inter with nine goals in this season's Champions League, with no player netting more for Inter in a single campaign (Hernan Crespo also scored nine in 2002-03).

"We never give up. That's Inter – we play with heart," Matteo Darmian added after the game.

"I don't know why [Acerbi] was there, but he was in the right position in the perfect moment."

Indeed, Acerbi's 93rd-minute equaliser made him the second-oldest scorer in a Champions League semi-final (37 years, 85 days), behind only Ryan Giggs (37y 148d) for Manchester United in 2011.

Inter will now face one of Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in the final, set to be played on May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.