Where are they now? When Jose Mourinho conquered the Camp Nou in UEFA Champions League semi-final classic as Inter beat Pep Guardiola's Barcelona

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The UEFA Champions League is in the final-four stage, with two of the biggest names in the history of the competition paired together. Barcelona are locked in a battle with Inter Milan for a place in the final, which brings up memories of their heated semi-final battle from 2010, in which Jose Mourinho typically took centre stage.

Flashback: Mourinho beats and taunts Barca to reach UCL final with Inter in 2010

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Barcelona and Inter Milan are midway through their UEFA Champions League semi-final tie, knowing there is just one match which stands between each side and the final in Munich next month.

After a thrilling first leg in Spain which saw six goals, some brilliance from Lamine Yamal, a screamer from Raphinha and a brace from defender Denzel Dumfries, the teams are locked at 3-3 heading into a mouth-watering return leg in Italy.

However, the sides now managed by Hansi Flick and Simone Inzaghi still have a big job to match the infamy of the showdown at this same stage of the competition 15 years ago.

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In 2010, Pep Guardiola’s side were holders and favourites ahead of their first leg encounter in Italy until an Icelandic volcano had other plans.

The eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, and subsequent ash cloud engulfing European skies for a period of spring that year, disrupted travel plans across the continent - and even the world’s best football team wasn’t spared.

Unable to fly, Barca were forced to embark on an epic half-a-day coach journey, upsetting Guardiola’s finely-tuned plans and resulting in a 3-1 San Siro defeat.

Highlights: Yamal stars as Barca and Inter play out six-goal thriller

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A huge setback no doubt, but with an away goal, there was still confidence that they could turn the tie around at the Camp Nou.

However, in the Inter dugout was a certain Jose Mourinho, who, let’s just say, had a complicated relationship with the Catalan club.

Grudge

Having previously worked at Barcelona under Bobby Robson and later Louis van Gaal, Mourinho was reportedly passed over for the manager’s job in favour of Guardiola in 2008, despite his successes at Porto and Chelsea, and harboured something of a grudge.

This all came to a head in a bad-tempered second leg, as Inter’s gamesmanship disrupted Barca’s attempts to play their famed ‘tiki-taka’ passing style.

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Inter were reduced to 10 men when Thiago Motta was sent off in the first half, albeit with the referee’s decision aided by some perceived play-acting from Sergio Busquets.

Gerard Pique gave Barca the lead late on and Bojan Krkic had a goal disallowed, but Barca ultimately ran out of time as Inter, who had barely advanced beyond the halfway line that night, were through.

Naturally, at full-time, everybody shook hands and calmly left the pitch without incident… right?

Not quite. Inter players stormed onto the pitch to celebrate their unexpected achievement, led by their ecstatic manager.

In true pettiness, Barca turned on the water sprinklers to quite literally rain on the Italians’ parade, but it didn’t matter.

Mourinho had metaphorically planted his flag on the Camp Nou turf and stood in the centre of the pitch, gesturing to the seats where the Barcelona board were apparently sat.

Barca keeper Victor Valdes took exception to the celebrations and confronted Mourinho before eventually being pulled away.

Inter would go on to beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the final to seal a historic treble, but for many associated with the club, getting the best of Barca on this night was arguably where the trophy was won.

We take a look at what all those involved on the night got up to next.

Barcelona XI

Barcelona starting XI ahead of Inter clash in 2010

Image credit: Getty Images

Goalkeeper: Victor Valdes

The sight of the stopper grappling with a celebrating Mourinho on the pitch has become iconic, but thankfully for Valdes, his career is remembered for much more.

He helped Barca recapture the Champions League the following year and won his sixth La Liga title in 2013 before a planned departure at the end of his contract the following year.

An ACL injury before leaving the Camp Nou left him without a club until joining Manchester United at the start of 2015, but he only featured twice before a loan to Standard Liege, where he won the Belgian Cup.

In 2016, he was back in England with Middlesbrough following their promotion to the Premier League, but retired a year later and has since moved into management, currently in charge at Spanish fourth-tier side Real Avila.

Valdes remonstrates with Mourinho

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Right-back: Dani Alves

Remained at the club until 2016, winning the Champions League twice before joining Juventus and winning Serie A.

Alves moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 and spent two years in France before a return to Brazil with Sao Paulo, and briefly returning to Barcelona during the 2021/22 season. His final club was Pumas UNAM in Mexico.

Alves was convicted of rape and sexual assault in 2024, but the conviction was overturned the following year.

Centre-back: Gerad Pique

Pique remained at Barca for the rest of his career, retiring in 2022 as a club legend, amassing over 600 appearances and several major trophies.

His last game ended in controversy, however, as he received a red card despite being on the bench in a La Liga match against Osasuna.

His post-football career has seen him involved in several businesses ,including esports and fantasy football.

Centre-back: Gabriel Milito

The Argentinian left the Camp Nou in the summer of 2011 for a season with his former club Independiente in his homeland before retiring and moving into management. His most recent role was with Atletico Mineiro in Brazil.

Left-back: Seydou Keita

The former Mali international left Barcelona to join Chinese Super League side Dalian Aerbin in 2012 but returned to La Liga with Valenica two years later.

He was soon on the move again, joining Roma for two years and winding down his career at El-Jaish in the Qatar Stars League.

Since retiring in 2017, Keita has moved into entrepreneurship in his native Mali.

Midfield: Yaya Toure

Toure left Barca that summer for Manchester City, where he established himself as an Etihad legend, thanks in part to his 24 goals in the 2013/14 Premier League title-winning campaign.

Despite his popularity, a falling out with Guardiola saw him leave City in 2018 for short spells with Olympiacos and Chinese side Qingdao Huanghai before calling time on his career.

He also lifted the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast in 2015 and has since moved into coaching, including with Tottenham Hotspur’s academy, and was most recently the assistant manager of the Saudi Arabia national team.

Highlights: Lewandowski scores brace, Raphinha and Yamal also net in dominant Barca win

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Midfield: Xavi

After 767 appearances for the club, Xavi departed in 2015 off the back of his fourth Champions League win.

He would move to Al Sadd in Qatar, where he spent four years as a player before being appointed manager.

After winning the league title in the Middle East, a return to Barcelona was inevitable and after taking charge in 2021, he led the club to La Liga glory in 2023.

However, things went sour the following season and after much toing and froing with president Joan Laporta, he left the club in 2024.

Midfield: Sergio Busquets

Busquets enjoyed a 15-year stay at Barcelona, winning every major trophy on offer.

He finally left Barca in 2023 and moved stateside to Major League Soccer side Inter Miami, where he now plays with several other former Barca team-mates in Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez and, of course, Lionel Messi.

Forward: Pedro

The Spanish winger opened the scoring in the following year’s final win over Manchester United and also featured heavily in the treble-winning campaign of 2015.

He left to join Chelsea for five years, winning the Premier League title and UEFA Europa League during his time in London.

He moved to Roma in 2020 before making the controversial cross-town switch to Lazio, where he still plays, a year later.

Forward: Lionel Messi

Messi finally said farewell to Barcelona in 2021 with just the 778 appearances, 672 goals, 10 La Liga titles, three Champions League trophies and seven Ballon d’Or crowns (he would pick up an eighth in 2023), as well as many, many memorable moments.

Two seasons at PSG resulted in two Ligue 1 titles before a move to Inter Miami in 2023, as he continues to showcase his incredible talent now.

Oh, and amidst all that, he finally got his hands on that elusive World Cup with Argentina in 2022, arguably confirming his status as the greatest player of all time.

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Forward: Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Despite Guardiola and the club breaking the bank to bring him from Inter to the Camp Nou a year earlier, this match was the beginning of the end of his time in Spain, with the player admitting he and his manager had had a bitter falling out.

Ibrahimovic was loaned to AC Milan the following season and joined permanently in 2011, helping the club win Serie A before moving to PSG, where he enjoyed the best scoring run of his career.

He left Paris with 156 goals to his name to join Mourinho at Manchester United, winning the EFL Cup and playing a key role in the successful Europa League run, despite a serious knee ligament injury ruling him out of the final.

In 2018, he moved to LA Galaxy for two seasons before rejoining Milan, where he eventually retired – but not before helping them to a first league title since his first spell at the club.

Subs: Jose Manuel Pinto, Rafael Marquez, Bojan Krkic, Thierry Henry, Maxwell, Thiago Alcantara, Jeffren Suarez.

Manager: Pep Guardiola

After leading the club to his second Champions League title in 2011, Guardiola opted to leave the club in 2012, re-emerging at Bayern Munich in 2013 following a year's sabbatical.

After winning three successive Bundesliga titles, he left for Manchester City, where he has led the club to six league titles and a Champions League as part of a historic treble in 2023.

Inter starting XI at the Camp Nou ahead of second leg

Image credit: Getty Images

Inter XI

Goalkeeper: Julio Cesar

Two years after completing the treble with Inter, the Brazilian keeper found himself in west London but unable to prevent struggling QPR from relegation to the Championship.

He made a brief move to MLS side Toronto in 2014, before signing permanently for Benfica that summer, helping the club to three successive league titles before returning to Brazil and first club Flamengo in 2018, where he retired.

Right-back: Maicon

Despite a largely impressive career for Inter, and even a Ballon d’Or nomination that year, the Brazilian endured a torrid time in two games against Tottenham’s Gareth Bale the following season, which potentially sullied his reputation as a player.

He left Inter for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spell with Manchester City before a return to Serie A with Roma for three seasons, and then ended his career with short stints at Avai, Cricuiuma, Villa Nova and Sona in his homeland ahead of his 2013 retirement.

Centre-back: Lucio

The domineering defender left Inter in 2012 for arch-rivals Juventus but was unable to establish his place in the team and terminated his contract just six months after arriving.

He returned to Brazil with Sao Paulo and Palmeiras before a spell in the Indian Super League with Goa.

Before hanging up his boots in 2020, Lucio briefly featured for Brazilian sides Gama and Brasiliense.

Centre-back: Walter Samuel

The Argentinian ended a nine-year stint with Inter in 2014, joining Basel in the Swiss Super League, where he played for two seasons and won two titles before retiring in 2016.

Samuel was Argentina’s assistant coach during the World Cup-winning campaign in Qatar.

Highlights: Inter squeeze past Bayern to reach semis

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Left-back: Javier Zanetti

Essentially part of the furniture at the club, Zanetti spent 19 years at Inter, making a record 858 appearances before retiring in 2014.

Not that he was able to leave San Siro of course, after being named club vice-president - a position he holds to this day.

Midfield: Esteban Cambiasso

Another long-term servant of the club, the Argentinian midfielder’s 10 years at the club ended in 2014 and a move to the Premier League with Leicester City followed.

Cambiasso was the club’s player of the season as The Foxes survived relegation from the English top-flight, but chose to leave in 2015 for Olympiacos, where he spent two years before retiring. He now works as a pundit on Italian TV.

Midfield: Thiago Motta

The Brazilian’s red card thankfully didn’t prove too costly on the night - although it did mean he missed the final in Madrid.

Motta left Inter in 2012 for PSG and had a largely-successful six-year spell with the club before retiring and taking charge of the club’s under-19 side.

His managerial career continued at Genoa, Spezia, and most notably, Bologna, with whom he qualified for the Champions League in 2024.

With his stock at an all-time high, Juventus pounced. However, he was sacked in March this year after less than a season in charge.

Midfield: Christian Chivu

Nominally a defender, Chivu was deployed higher up the pitch in order to help stifle Barca’s threat.

The Romanian retired immediately after leaving Inter in 2014, eventually returning to the club as a youth coach. He recently took up his first senior managerial role with Parma in Serie A.

Attacking midfield: Wesley Sneijder

A brilliant season with Inter and the Netherlands’ subsequent World Cup final run saw Sneijder tipped to challenge for the 2010 Ballon d’Or, but he ultimately finished fourth in the final voting.

He remained at Inter until 2012 before five fruitful years in Turkey with Galatasaray, winning two league titles in the process.

He then joined Nice in France for a short spell before moving to Al-Gharafa in the Qatar Stars League ahead of retiring in 2019.

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Forward: Samuel Eto'o

The Cameroonian legend who had scored for Barca in the previous year’s final was used as a makeweight in the Ibrahimovic deal, but had the last laugh on this particular night.

After a brilliant 37-goal 2010/11 season in Italy, Eto’o decided to move to Russia’s Anzhi Makhachkala on a reported €20 million a year, making him the highest-paid player in the world at the time.

In 2013, he joined Chelsea for a season, reuniting with Mourinho, and remained in the Premier League after moving to Everton the next year.

However, he only lasted half a season on Merseyside before returning to Serie A with Sampdoria and then Antalyaspor in Turkey, where he was also briefly appointed interim player-manager during his three-year stay. He finished up his career with short stints at Konyaspor and Qatar SC before retiring.

In 2021, he was appointed president of the Cameroon Football Federation.

Forward: Diego Milito

The Inter hero of the final scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Bayern but struggled with injury the following season, scoring just eight times across all competitions.

He was back to something approaching his best with 26 goals in 2011/12, but his final two seasons were again impacted by injury, and he eventually left in 2014 for Racing Club in Argentina before retiring in 2016.

Subs: Francesco Toldo, Ivan Cordoba, Sully Muntari, McDonald Mariga, Marco Materazzi, Mario Balotelli, Marco Arnautovic.

Jose Mourinho celebrates at full time

Image credit: Getty Images

Manager: Jose Mourinho

Immediately after winning the treble with Inter, Mourinho continued his feud with Barca by joining Real Madrid. However, his three seasons in the capital only yielded one La Liga title and one Copa del Rey before he left.

Making an emotional return to Chelsea in 2013, he lifted his third Premier League title in 2015 but left just six months after that triumph, joining rivals Manchester United the following summer and winning both the EFL Cup and Europa League in 2017.

He left Old Trafford in 2018 but remained in the Premier League, replacing Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham a year later.

Despite leading the club to an EFL Cup final, he was sacked days before the match took place in 2021, returning to Italy with Roma and winning the inaugural UEFA Conference League to complete his personal clean sweep of European trophies.

He joined Fenerbahce in 2024 where he remains… for now!

How to watch Barcelona v Inter Milan

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