Superstar forwards draw a blank in glamour Euro tie

Inter Milan 0 Barcelona 0

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto'o were both kept under wraps by their former team-mates as Inter Milan held Champions League holders Barcelona to a goalless draw at the San Siro tonight.

The quick return of the two strikers to their old clubs dominated talk in the build-up to the match, with Barca having this summer given Inter €46m plus Eto'o - valued at €20m - in exchange for Ibrahimovic.

The Swede was much more involved than his Cameroon counterpart as treble winners Barca spent large parts of the game going forward, but neither player, or anyone else for that matter, was able to find the breakthrough as defences came out on top.

Barca were quickest out of the blocks and bossed most of the first half in the battle between the two big guns in Group F, while it was a similar story after the break as Jose Mourinho's Inter struggled to create many clear opportunities of their own.

Barca ace Lionel Messi set the tone for the opening period after just 65 seconds when he skipped inside two defenders before driving in a low shot from the edge of the box that Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar needed to push away.

Seven minutes later Ibrahimovic had a decent chance to net against his former employers when he got in behind the Inter defence, but although his chest control was good, his subsequent shot was poor.

Messi had another effort soon after, his header being comfortably saved by Cesar, before Inter had their first sight of goal when Maicon fired over from 20 yards out.

Diego Milito, whose brother Gabriel is on Barca's books, went closer for the hosts just before the half-hour mark when he turned inside his marker and drilled in a low shot, but Barca keeper Victor Valdes was equal to it.

After being pegged back at the start of the match, Inter were starting to cause more problems for Pep Guardiola's men and former Real Madrid man Wesley Sneijder sent a rising shot over the bar after creating space for himself.

Barca were back in the ascendancy towards the end of the half though, and Seydou Keita missed the best chance of the period four minutes before the break.

Xavi's chip found Dani Alves inside the area, and he drew out Cesar before laying the ball back to Keita with most of the goal to aim for. However, the Mali international fired wide of the far post to let Inter off the hook.

The first half ended the same was it started, with Messi bringing a save out of Cesar from 20 yards.

Both sides looked threatening immediately after the break, with Sneijder shooting just wide before the stretching Ibrahimovic saw his volley land on the roof of the net following a brilliant pass by Xavi.

As in the first half, Barca were making most of the running, although they survived a brief scare in the 65th minute when Dejan Stankovic fired just over from outside the box.

The next good chance fell to Messi, and Inter will have breathed a huge sigh of relief as the Argentinian superstar put the ball over the bar from six yards out after latching onto Thierry Henry's driven cross-shot.

Barca then had a loud penalty appeal turned down, believing Stankovic had handled in the area, but those claims fell on deaf ears and the Catalan giants were forced to settle for a draw.