Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan defended heroically tonight, qualifying for the Champions League final against Bayern Munich with a 1-0 loss to Barcelona. Jose’s infamous parking of the bus was reversed as they packed men behind the ball and frustrated and stymied Guardiola’s men again and again. A few key stats from the game:

• Xavi (153) made 37 more passes on his own than the whole Inter Milan team (116).
• Passes completed: Barca 555, Inter 67
• Barcelona had 86.4% possession, a Champions League record this season.
• Barcelona (1372 passes) completed 999 more passes than Inter Milan (373) over the two legs.

Just incredible levels of domination. But Inter rebuffed them and aside from Pique’s superb finish, kept them out. A triumph for Mourinho’s tactical brilliance? Or dour negativity that ruined the spectacle?

For my money, any game that can throw up such statistical anomalies is a fascinating one. I can’t pretend that I enjoyed every minute of the match (especially not the first half) but overall, as a package, it was engrossing. Not for the casual viewer admittedly, but captivating for the hardcore.

And Jose being Jose he had to provide us with a subplot – the last minute team change, the half time delay, the full time histrionics… whatever you think of the guy, you cannot deny he is entertaining. More so than the game…

• Jose Mourinho is still the king of Stamford Bridge – The Special One had a remarkable record there in charge of Chelsea, and in inflicting a rare home defeat on Ancelotti’s men reminded everyone, especially Chelsea fans, just how good he is. Indeed, his favourite biscuits were put out specially for him, he has a wall dedicated to him and his achievements within the stadium, and was raucously applauded by the Chelsea fans. They wish he was still there.
• Serie A is not dead yet – Despite AC Milan’s abject defeat to Man United, there is life in the old (in Milan’s case very old) Italian dog yet. Inter fully deserved what in the end was comprehensive qualification, and particularly in the second half outplayed Chelsea. No-one will want to draw them in the next round.
• But they are no angels - Inter employed every trick in the book from shirt pulling, tugging, holding and fouling to diving, moaning, complaining and dramatising to the more sly but no less infuriating timewasting, the most cowardly form of cheating. Despite catching up in the insidious stakes English sides still have a lot to learn from cunning Italians.
• Didier Drogba is still repulsive – The Ivorian was sent off again, making 4 of his 5 dismissals in the Champions League. Clearly he has a problem with losing – not a sin in itself, but coupled with his on pitch histrionics they make him a thoroughly dislikable character despite his obvious footballing merits.
• Referees need to man up – We’ve commented on this several times before, but until referees clamp down on holding and shirt pulling in the box defenders will continue to cheat relentlessly. Drogba himself was clearly held by Walter Samuel in what was a clear foul, and there were several other potential penalties. The common argument is ‘if refs gave every one of those there would be ten penalties a match’ – no there wouldn’t you absolute spastic, DEFENDERS WOULD STOP DOING IT. It needs to happen.
• Wesley Sneijder is a great footballer – A delightful performance from Inter’s dutchman showed why he has been so crucial to Inter this term. Chelsea were linked with him months ago and must rue missing out. Particularly last night.
• The first half was one of the worst halves of football I’ve seen in a long time – Bitty, scrappy, and very low on quality. The second was better as the game opened up a bit, but this was an absorbing contest rather than a great one.