Inter's Inzaghi: Players like Barça's Yamal born every 50 years - ESPN

Internazionale coach Simone Inzaghi lauded Barcelona's Lamine Yamal as a phenomenon who comes along once every 50 years after his side's enthralling 3-3 Champions League semifinal first leg draw at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.

Inter raced into an unexpected 2-0 lead inside 21 minutes through goals from Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries, but were pegged back before halftime by a Yamal-inspired Barça on the 17-year-old's 100th appearance for the club.

Yamal scored Barça's first with a stunning solo effort, with Ferran Torres then levelling before Dumfries' second goal of the night and a Yann Sommer own goal left the tie all square heading into the second leg at the San Siro next Tuesday.

«I'm proud to see how a fantastic team of players came here and produced that performance against the most attacking, in-form team in the world,» Inzaghi said in the post-game news conference. «Barça have a player [Yamal] who is difficult to stop. We started well, but in the last 25 minutes of the first half he created a lot of problems.

»He is a player I had not seen live before and we had to double up on him. He is a phenomenon born every 50 years. He really impressed me today."

Yamal's goal, his 15th of the season, lifted the mood of the home fans after a difficult start. He also hit the crossbar twice, tormented left wing-back Federico Dimarco and created several chances for his teammates.

The teenager's performance was all the more remarkable given there had been doubts before the game over his fitness after feeling some muscle pain in the warmup.

«He felt [something] a little bit, but everything was checked and he had the green light [to play],» Barça coach Hansi Flick confirmed in a news conference.

«I think Lamine, in the