Buffeted by wind and water, Inter ultimately brought the fire. Nobody should sleep on them as a credible contender to rule Europe now Bayern Munich, who took them to the wire in a tie that pulsated throughout, have been dismissed. Goals from Lautaro Martínez and Benjamin Pavard edged them through amid jubilant scenes and filthy conditions, eventually rendering an English double from Harry Kane and Eric Dier irrelevant. Their semi-final against Barcelona is a delicious prospect; Bayern, and Kane in particular, will regret opportunities spurned across the 180 minutes.
San Siro had crackled at the outset. This venue is firmly of its time but that need not always be a fatal flaw and what a loss it will be if Inter and Milan, its two tenants, make real their plan for a new venue nearby. Serious business happens here: there may be nowhere that oozes Champions League like this, or even positively screams it. When the competition’s anthem played before kick-off, the home support hummed to its strains before bawling its final two words in unison.
Inter had rolled home from the first leg with confidence: too much so if you asked Vincent Kompany or Kane, who had both noted their exuberant celebrations after Davide Frattesi’s dramatic winner. Yet Bayern are hardly shrinking violets on this stage and Kompany decided this was an occasion for Thomas Müller, assassin extraordinaire and almost their saviour eight days previously.
When Müller puffs out his chest, so do Bayern. Within three minutes of the start he had backheeled into Michael Olise’s path, a lunging Pavard block preventing a likely goal. Soon afterwards it was Müller’s turn to shoot, Yann Sommer gathering his awkward effort after an Olise pass. When the two next combined, Müller played his teammate through on goal only for Alessandro Bastoni to appear from nowhere and snap the ball behind.
Bayern’s early whirlwind subsided, to be replaced by a meteorological equivalent that dogged both sides. Inter, who knew they would have opportunities to bite on the counter, were thwarted at one point when the ball veered wildly after fine work by Henrikh Mkhitaryan. They had threatened in the sixth minute when Federico Dimarco, returning to the starting lineup at left wing-back, thudded a drive at Jonas Urbig. They posed a persistent threat out wide but it was not until just before the half-hour, when an unmarked Francesco Acerbi snatched a Dimarco free-kick across goal, that a clear chance came their way.
Hakan Calhanoglu promptly shot wide from range with Urbig rooted to the spot. The gusts were hardly easing; perhaps any disruptive element would favour the team whose noses were in front. Bayern were appearing to drift but finally conjured another opening. Müller was found 10 yards out by Konrad Laimer’s cutback but Matteo Darmian charged his strike down; Sommer scrambled Leroy Sané’s follow-up clear and Inter somehow spirited the resulting corner away. At half-time it remained on a knife edge.
Kompany’s players needed more. Conditions had deteriorated further when they re-emerged. Now the same winds sent rain in all directions; soon Dier was sent spinning by Marcus Thuram, recovering as the forward marauded. A deflection off Kane from Dimarco’s delivery then forced Urbig to save; Inter smelled the goal that would surely seal things.
In its temporary absence, Kane produced at the right end. Dimarco backed off after Leon Goretzka had fed Kane on the right side of the box, allowing him to pick his moment. The strike was low, true and across a static Sommer; profligate at the Allianz Arena, Kane had rifled through the textbook when it mattered.
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What could Inter muster? Thuram swiftly tested Urbig, but then Müller spooned a fine opening high from 15 yards. They were crying out for a moment from Martínez, who had hardly been involved, and it arrived as if on demand. He fluffed his header from Dimarco’s corner but made no mistake with his second go, slashing home after a rebound off Joshua Kimmich.
Three minutes later the turnaround was complete. Dier saved a certain goal at the expense of another corner, again sent in by Calhanoglu from the left. Pavard crashed on to it, an emphatic header sending these old stands shuddering.
That seemed enough but then Sommer denied Olise and, from the resulting corner, Dier looped in an angled header for a Bayern lifeline. Now Inter needed the resilience Simone Inzaghi has cultivated. Kane hooked over at the start of six minutes’ added time, and soon San Siro could sing in full voice.