Luis Suarez scored twice in the second half to lead Barcelona to a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in their Champions League Group F match on Wednesday.
Inter Milan took a very early lead in the game, as Lautaro Martinez took advantage of a ball behind the Barca defense just over two minutes into the game and put the ball past keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Suarez Brace Leads Barcelona to Victory
The Italian side nearly grabbed a 2-0 first half lead in the 27th minute, as Antonio Candreva slotted home a second goal. However, Candreva was clearly offside on the play, negating the score.
Inter continued to be the better side until the break, and continued to pile on the pressure in the second half. But the match turned on a dime when Suarez rifled in a volley off an Arturo Vidal cross on the edge of the box to tie the score.
From that point on, it was Barcelona that pushed for the winning goal. It eventually came in the 84th minute, when Lionel Messi – playing in his return from injury – slipped Suarez the ball at the top of the box to set up the winning goal.
Barcelona is now tied atop the Group F standings with Borussia Dortmund at four points, while Inter Milan has just one point from its first two matches.
Salah Thwarts Salzburg Comeback
At Anfield, Liverpool looked to be headed towards a laugher, then hung on to survive a furious comeback to earn a 4-3 home victory over Red Bull Salzburg.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring nine minutes in, with Andrew Robertson and Mohamed Salah both scoring later in the first half to give Liverpool a 3-0 lead after just 36 minutes. Even after Hee-Chan Hwang pulled one back for Salzburg before halftime, the Reds still appeared to have a comfortable advantage.
Wednesday Champions League Scores
- Slavia Prague 0-2 Dortmund
- Genk 0-0 Napoli
- Liverpool 4-3 Red Bull Salzburg
- Lille 1-2 Chelsea
- Zenit 3-1 Benfica
- Valencia 0-3 Ajax
- Barcelona 2-1 Inter Milan
- RB Leipzig 0-2 Lyon
By Takumi Minamino and Erling Braut Haland scored within five minutes of each other to tie the match at 3-3 after an hour of play, stunning the home crowd.
But Liverpool managed to find a winner. With Salzburg struggling to get the ball out of their half, Roberto Firmino played a bouncing header into space, where Salah connected with it and guided the ball past Salzburg keeper Cican Stankovic for the decisive goal.
“It can be tough because the human mind is a little bit like, ‘Okay we’re gonna win, we’re gonna score again and again,’†Salah said in a post-match interview. “But they made the game tough for us, and I’m happy that we got three points – that’s the most important thing.â€
Also on Wednesday, Chelsea grabbed a 2-1 win in France against Lille, while Ajax put in a dominant 3-0 performance at Valencia to go to the top of Group H with a perfect six points from two matches.