Football can be so cruel sometimes, and on Tuesday at the Giuseppe Meazza, it delivered one of its cruellest blows yet.  Barça did everything and more to warrant a place in the Champions League Final, but despite utterly outplaying Inter from start to finish, they ended up losing 4-3 in extra time, and the European journey ends here.

Barça bow out of the competition with their heads held very high. They have been fantastic over the two legs, both of which have been absolute footballing feasts with twists and turns all the way. But football works in mysterious ways, and it’s the Italians who will be playing Arsenal or PSG in Munich.

It was hard for this game to live up to the thrills of the first leg, let alone produce even more drama, but it did.

Inter once again took a somewhat unmerited 2-0 lead, and Barça once again fought their way back level thanks to top-notch football. But what looked like a late winner for Raphinha was promptly cancelled out at the other end, and in extra time, Inter, totally against the run of play, managed to find a winner.

Just like at the Estadi Olímpic six days earlier, Barça found themselves trailing by two goals and had every right to feel hard done by.

They were bringing all the football to the game and had Yann Sommer’s net under near-constant pressure, but it was the Italians who drew first blood on 21 minutes.

An uncharacteristic error from Dani Olmo allowed Denzel Dumfries to break free and then supply Lautaro Martinez the chance to tuck the ball into an unguarded net.

Barça could not have reacted better. Inter had spoken throughout the build-up about their plan to keep Lamine Yamal in check, but whatever it was, it wasn’t working. The teenager was seeing plenty of ball and doing great things with it, and potential equalisers were going begging by the narrowest of margins.

But just as Barça were looking more dangerous than ever, they went a further behind in the bitterest of circumstances.

Pau Cubarsí looked to have produced a fabulous last-ditch tackle to deny Lautaro the chance to score, but VAR wanted a second look and deemed that contact was made with the Argentinian’s leg.

Analysts worldwide will debate the decision, but the penalty was given and Hakan Çalhanoglu converted.

Barça now needed a double reaction and needed just a quarter of an hour of the second half to get the job done.

In the 54th minute, and moments after Inter had had a goal disallowed for offside, Gerard Martín floated a cross and Eric García couldn’t have produced a more perfect connection. What a volley! What a goal! And Barça were back in business.

Eric could have scored a second moments later had Sommer not made the most extraordinary save from point blank range, but there was nothing the Swiss keeper could do the next time Barça drove forward and Dani Olmo headed in the equaliser.

And where had the ball come from? The most exquisite of long balls forward from Gerard Martin, earning him his second assist of the night.

It was turning into an almost exact replica of the first leg. Inter may have somehow scrambled a two-goal lead, but Barça had again turned on the magic and were now looking utterly superior to the Serie A side. If ever they got the ball, Inter could barely string two passes together and instead found themselves limited to desperately defending their area against the incessant blaugrana onslaught.

The best of umpteen chances was a stunning Lamine curler that Sommer got a brilliant hand to. The 5,000 or so Barça supporters were making themselves nicely heard over the home fans… Surely if the football gods know anything at all about justice, Barça were going to go on and win this.

The rain was pounding down on Milan and Barça were pounding the Inter goal, but the winner just didn’t want to come. Extra time was looming…

But Raphinha had other plans.

The 88th minute and his original effort might have been expertly blocked by Sommer but the ball rebounded back for the Brazilian to have a second pop, and this time it found the net!

And it looked like that was it. Yet another incredible Barça comeback and a place in the Champions League Final secured.

But Inter also had other plans.

The home side flung everything forward in the hope of somehow mustering an equaliser. Much to the agony of Barça fans worldwide, they got it.

Hansi Flick was booked for protesting the foul on Martin in the build-up, but it went unpunished and Francesco Acerbi ended up scoring the most unlikely of equalisers.

Try as they could, and try as they did, Barça didn’t manage to find a goal in response.