Barca stars to beat record? 

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It was a classic Champions League semi-final as Barcelona and Inter Milan played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in the first leg in Catalonia. The last four clash was illuminated by individual brilliance with Lamine Yamal’s incredible goal the standout moment from a pulsating ninety minutes. Inter Milan scored the fastest ever semi-final goal after just 30 seconds when Marcus Thuram netted an audacious flick.

The Serie A champions were in dreamland twenty minutes later when Denzel Demfires doubled their advantage with an acrobatic finish. Yamal, however, was the catalyst for Barcelona’s comeback with his stunning goal preceding Ferran Torres’ equaliser. But Dumfires scored from another set-piece to regain Inter’s lead before Raphinha’s thunderous effort bounced into the net off the hapless Yann Sommer after crashing off the crossbar to leave it perfectly poised for leg in Madrid. It was a breathtaking encounter in Barcelona and the two stars of their season – Raphinha and Yamal – combined brilliantly throughout to showcase their irresistible quality.

The best ever Champions League duos

With Yamal’s sensational goal and Raphinha’s headed assist to Ferran, the Barcelona duo took their combined goal contributions in the Champions League this season to 29. With his 20th goal contribution in the competition this season, Raphinha surpassed Lionel Messi (19) as the Barcelona star with the most goals and assists in the single season. As the graphic below illustrates, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski have 30 goal contributions between them in this competition – the Polish striker could return from injury for the second leg.

 The Barcelona stars could potentially eclipse the record for two players in the Champions League, currently held by Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino. The duo provided 33 goal contributions between them as Liverpool reached the 2019 final before losing to Real Madrid in the final. Cristiano Ronaldo, the Champions League record scorer, features three times on the list during the 2013/14 season with teammates Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Angel di Maria.