Barcelona crumble in Champions League again in six-goal draw with Inter amid beautiful chaos - The Warm-Up

THURSDAY'S BIG STORIES Welcome To The Camp Oh No Ad As a special treat because we've been such wonderful girls and boys, the Champions League has let us have one of its ridiculous knockout games early this year. Barcelona 3-3 Inter looks very silly written down, and was even sillier to watch unfolding, as the home team — who needed a win — went into the game with a big arrow pointing at their vulnerable underside.

Ballon d'OrBallon d’Or predictions: Our winners revealed – and who makes the podium2 HOURS AGO There are probably circumstances where Gerard Pique and Eric García, with a five-thousand-year-old Sergio Busquets in front of them, is the right combination of footballers. We could imagine passing a pleasant evening in their company, playing Scrabble, drinking wine.

But against Lautaro Martinez? Against a side that are probably going to try and break quickly? Let nobody say that Xavi lacks courage. Injuries at least explains Pique's return to the side.

And a manager knows, when turning to the veterans, that while the years may have taken what pace they once possessed, their game intelligence will only have sharpened. Xavi will have trusted Pique to know what's going on around him, and known that his captain would never find himself leaving the ball and doing a big «nothing to worry about here, lads» arm gesture while Nico Barella wanders in behind him to break the game apart.

Frenkie de Jong came on after Inter took the lead, and Barcelona immediately looked better, but by that point the game had descended into attack v defence, pressure against breakaways, shredded nerves against muddled heads, and nothing much was making sense. That now includes the group table, which has Barcelona in third place and almost