Barcelona face Champions League D-Day with knockout hopes on line against Inter Milan

A long-term grudge festers between Barcelona and Inter Milan and, if the major flashpoints of their past duels in Uefa competition happened a decade or more ago, it does not take much to stoke the antagonism.

Barcelona are still fuming about the refereeing of last week’s narrow Inter victory at San Siro, still vexed that their 71 per cent possession somehow translated into a 1-0 defeat.

The result leaves Barca in peril as they prepare host Inter at Camp Nou on Wednesday. The prospect of relegation into the Europa League for a second season in succession is very real.

Defeats at Bayern Munich and at Inter, where two handball decisions went against Barca, have left them trailing Bayern by six points and Inter by three. Losing again to the Serie A side, coupled with Bayern at least drawing with Vikoria Plzen, the makeweights in a tough group, would push the German and Italian clubs into the knockout stage.

Lose out on the financial rewards that reaching the next round guarantee, and Barca would also be confronted with some uncomfortable truths about their economic circumstances.

The club are juggling over €1 billion of debt and, although they found new income streams to fund an expensive and busy summer of recruitment, they came with a long-term bind. The club effectively mortgaged a portion of their future broadcast-rights money over the next 25 years, selling 25 per cent of it to an independent investor. They also sold off a tranche of one of their principal merchandising companies.

The funds raised, and channelled into signing the likes of Robert Lewandowksi, Raphinha and Jules Kounde, among others, were proof of the club’s global appeal and the financial sector’s trust in Barca’s ongoing ability to capture the