Liverpool set out for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final with a 2-0 win over Inter Milan after a gruelling encounter with a bubbling San Siro. Last-quarter-minute goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool an easy lead ahead of their round of 16 second-leg tie at Anfield in three weeks.
The result was tough for Italian champions Inter, who dominated most of the game in front of a passionate home crowd after the break and found the post through Hakancharhanoglu in the 16th minute.
However, they were unable to break through the Liverpool defence built by Virgil van Dijk and were punished late by the Reds, who have now won their last seven games in all competitions.
“Tough place, a very good team, hard to break, I really like the atmosphere and the crowd. It was a good result to take me to Anfield,” Van Dijk told BT Sport.
“Everyone is expected to be under pressure, this is the Champions League. The message until then is that you have to be willing to suffer and work hard. It was a very good performance, a clean sheet and a happy day.”
After reaching the Champions League round of 16 for the first time in a decade, the last 16 now looks too much for Inter, leaving Juventus Italy’s only real hope of success in the competition.
“I thought it was a great game and we should be proud of what we played against one of the best teams in the world. We deserved to win in 65-70 minutes,” Inter coach Simon Na Inzaghi told reporters after the game.
Liverpool late
Inzaghi’s side started with all the enthusiasm to be back in the knockout stages after so long, with Lautaro Martinez opening the crowd with a long shot in the fifth minute, who just missed the goal.
Liverpool reacted almost immediately and established a territorial advantage, with Salah’s shot well blocked and Thiago Alcantara scoring from the edge of the box.
However, Inter’s best chance in the half came from Calhanoglu, who, after being served by a frenzied Ivan Perisic, shot from a tight angle and hit Alisson but slammed into the crossbar .
They were unlucky again 10 minutes later when Denzel Dumfries flashed a low cross after a charge from the right, looking destined to find the feet of the unmarked Edin Dzeko .
After the break, Inter gritted their teeth and pounced on a visibly nervous Liverpool, but again couldn’t get past Van Dijk and his team-mates, who kept using their feet and heads when danger loomed. Enter the game.
Perisic hovered over a lovely cross that Martinez couldn’t quite match in the 52nd minute, and a similar pattern repeated a few times as Liverpool rejected an increasingly frustrated Inter team, unable to take their advantage converted into goals.
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