UCL: Liverpool Leave It Late At San Siro
Liverpool left if late at the San Siro against Inter Milan to score two late goals in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie as the former champions become the first English team to win their first seven Champions League games.
Substitute Roberto Firmino and star man, Mohammed Salah scored in the final quarter of the game to give the Reds the advantage going into the second leg at Anfield.
Simone Inzaghi rocked two changes to his team that drew against Napoli. Arturo Vidal came in to replace the suspended Nicolo Barella, who was a big miss for the Italians.
Jurgen Klopp did a bit of shuffling with four changes, making a big call to hand 18-year old Harvey Elliot is his first Champions League start in the middle of the park ahead of captain Jordan Henderson.
In an open game that saw actions at both ends, Hakan Calhanoglu was first to ask the questions when he was played in on the left side of attack by Ivan Perisic and he struck the underside of the crossbar.
Sadio Mane tried an overhead kick at the other end when Ibrahima Konate connected with Andy Robertson's corner, but the Senegalese couldn't direct his well hit effort on target.
Although Liverpool saw most of the ball in the first half, both teams found it difficult to break down the other. Goal-scoring opportunities were limited to half chances.
The next talking point came on the hour mark when Denzel Dumfries released Edin Dzeko on goal and the striker calmly slotted past Alisson Becker. However, he like every other person were almost certain that he was in an offside position, but that showed how significant one chance could just change the face of the game.
Finally, the breakthrough came for Liverpool in the 75th minute from a setpiece. Andy Robertson sent in a corner from the right and Firmino dropped to the near post, peeling off his man and glancing his header past Samir Handanovic in goal.
The victory was sealed seven minutes from time when Virgil van Dijk headed a cross from Trent Alexander Arnold towards the penalty spot. Konate almost got in the way, but was quick to realize and leave the ball for Mohammed Salah who struck it precisely into the back of the net.
Concluding Thoughts
It's a dream campaign for Liverpool as they have one leg in the quarterfinal already after this victory. It's amazing how they are yet to drop a point in the Champions League this season having won all their seven matches; the only English team to have done that.
They were obviously the better team in the first half, even though they didn't create clear goal-scoring opportunities, but they kept their ground. As they were unable to score, they also succeeded in shutting out their opponent.
Inter Milan would feel really hard done after coming out at the restart a stronger team and even the rightly disallowed goal.
A problem that kept surfacing which eventually became the downfall was balls into the area. Right from the first half, crosses into the Inter box seemed to unsettle their defence and it was no surprise that the two goals they eventually conceded were from crosses.
One would have thought that with the calibre and size of defenders that they have in the heart of the defence; Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni - all 6ft and above, compared to the sizes of the Liverpool attacking trio of Salah, Mane and Diogo Jota, it should not have posed any problem for them. It was a weak link which I feel Liverpool exploited well.
With the away goal rules no longer in play, it is still mathematically possible for Inter Milan to come back from this, however, given the level that Liverpool are, I don't see them throwing away this lead.