Jürgen Klopp speaks!
Jonathan Liew on a famous night for Liverpool at San Siro
Andy Hunter was our man at San Siro this evening. His report has landed ... and here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
Jurgen Klopp, whose second-half triple substitution turned the game, speaks to BT Sport. “It was incredibly physical. We had to find a way. I think we started really well, playing around their formation. They came up with some pretty direct play that we didn’t defend well. Too often our full-backs were alone. In a game like this, you have to keep the ball longer, and that didn’t happen enough. But you cannot come here and hope you have a brilliant day, and that’s the only chance of getting a result. We had not a brilliant day, but a good enough day to be the deserved winner. We scored two wonderful goals. I am really happy with everything, except Diogo Jota had to go off with something around the ankle ligaments. He could play on, so maybe that is a good sign, but his ankle was swollen so we had to change.”
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A quietly content Virgil van Dijk talks to BT. “It’s a tough place to come, a really good team, a good system. They were difficult to break down. The atmosphere was incredible, I really enjoyed it out there. Obviously it was very important with the set pieces, it’s a strength of ours. Hopefully we can keep using this. Overall it’s a very solid performance and a good result to take back home. I think it’s a well-deserved win, but it was very hard work. Everyone expected to be under pressure, because they are a very good team and it is the Champions League. We needed to be ready to suffer and do the hard work, and we definitely did. Happy days.”
Turns out Liverpool scored with the only two shots on target all evening. They were seriously rocking for the first 15 minutes of the second half, with Perisic inspired and Vidal domineering. But an inspired triple substitution turned the tide for Liverpool, who were the better side thereafter, Keita, Henderson and Diaz all injecting some desperately needed energy. The only down side for Jurgen Klopp’s men is that Uefa have abolished the old away-goals rule, but they’re still in charge of this tie nevertheless. Inter will need something special at Anfield in three weeks’ time if they’re to deny Liverpool a place in the quarter-finals.
FULL TIME: Internazionale Milano 0-2 Liverpool
Liverpool complete a classic European smash and grab, taking a two-goal lead back to Anfield!
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90 min +3: Keita slides in on Gagliardini from behind and is slightly fortunate not to be booked ... but it hasn’t been that sort of game. The referee keeps his cards in his pocket.
90 min +2: Sanchez tries to release Darmian with a clever reverse pass down the right, but Robertson is wise to the caper and hooks clear just in time.
90 min +1: Inter make their final change, replacing Bastoni with Dimarco.
90 min: There will be three added minutes.
89 min: Liverpool stroke it around in the clock-management style.
87 min: Inter make a triple change of their own, replacing De Vrij, Vidal and Dumfries with Gagliardini, Ranocchia and Darmian.
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86 min: Milner comes on for his 800th career appearance. He replaces the slightly undercooked Thiago.
85 min: Keita takes control in the centre circle and rolls a ball down the right for Salah, who crosses low in the hope of finding Firmino at the far post. Handanovic gets down to smother.
GOAL! Inter 0-2 Liverpool (Salah 83)
Salah has done next to nothing all night, but now look! Inter fail to clear Alexander-Arnold’s deep free kick. Van Dijk wins a header at the far stick. The ball drops to Salah on the penalty spot. Konate has to bust a gut to get out of his team-mate’s way, and does so, Salah bobbling into the bottom right past a wrong-footed Handanovic. A little deflection on that, like he’ll care.
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82 min: Firmino, Salah, Keita and Alexander-Arnold flick this way and that down the right. Vidal gets fed up and clanks Alexander-Arnold to the floor. Free kick, 35 yards out on the wing. And from that...
80 min: Inter aren’t finished yet! Sanchez grooves down the inside-right channel and looks for Dzeko, just inside the Liverpool box on the left. His low cross is hooked clear brilliantly by Thiago, but only falls to Perisic, who sends a vicious curler towards the top right from 25 yards. It flies just over the bar. Alisson might have had that covered ... but he might not.
78 min: Salah rakes a diagonal ball towards Keita on the left. Keita tries to complete a long-distance one-two, Salah having romped forward into the Inter box. De Vrij knocks out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
76 min: Liverpool have been really up against it for the majority of the match, but that’s put a different spin on things. On the touchline, Klopp tries to maintain a poker face, but the corners of his mouth betray a smile. He knows his team have been put through the mill.
GOAL! Inter 0-1 Liverpool (Firmino 75)
Robertson floats a corner towards the near post. Firmino gets in front of Bastoni on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box, and steers a sensational header across Handanovic and into the bottom left!
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75 min: Alisson, ball at his feet, dawdles over his options upfield and is this close to being closed down by Sanchez. But he gets away with it, whipping clear with nanoseconds to spare, and soon enough Alexander-Arnold is winning a corner off Brozovic down the right. And from the corner ...
73 min: A flat corner is met by Dumfries on the right-hand side of the six-yard box. He eyebrows the ball over the bar at high speed. A decent chance.
72 min: The corner’s worked back down the left to Calhanoglu, whose deep cross is flicked out for another corner, this time on the right, by Thiago. Inter turning up that heat again.
71 min: A long ball raked down the left nearly opens Liverpool up. Dzeko isn’t quite sure whether to shoot or cross for Dumfries, allowing Van Dijk to bundle what he produces out for a corner.
70 min: Inter make their first change of the evening, replacing Lautaro with erstwhile Premier League magician Alexis Sanchez.
69 min: Salah, with time and space out on the right, passes the ball straight to Bastoni. He’s been quiet this evening. Those long extra-time evenings chasing lost causes for Egypt at the Afcon beginning to take their toll?
67 min: Diaz drifts in from the left, past Dumfries and Skriniar, and skelps a long-distance shot over the bar. If nothing else, the Liverpool changes have cooled Inter down a little bit.
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66 min: Diaz sizzles down the left and wins a corner off Skriniar. Robertson hoicks it in, but over everyone’s head. That man Vidal mops up and boots clear.
65 min: “If Arturo Vidal had been a gladiator in ancient Rome, the lions might have called in sick,” quips Justin Kavanagh. He has indeed been excellent. It’s currently a toss-up between Vidal and Perisic for man of the match. A combined 67 years between them.
63 min: Yep, this already does look better from Liverpool, even if the bar was set low. Alexander-Arnold slips a pass into the Inter box down the right channel. Diaz, racing across from the left, swivels and whips a shot goalwards. Handanovic and Skriniar combine to turn the effort out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
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61 min: Diaz’s first touch nearly releases Robertson into the Inter box down the left. The ball clanks off Robertson’s heel, and Inter clear their lines. Already better from Liverpool, though the data set is 60-seconds tiny, so let’s wait and see.
60 min: A long ball down the middle releases Dzeko, who is clear on goal. He opens his body and slots past Alisson and into the bottom right, but the flag correctly pops up for offside.
59 min: Liverpool, having completely lost control of midfield, make a triple change. Fabinho, Mane and Elliott are replaced by Henderson, Keita and the new boy Diaz.
58 min: Perisic crosses low from the left. Konate slides in to slice clear, with Dzeko and Lautaro lurking behind him. Movement on the Liverpool bench, which is no surprise.
57 min: Bastoni wedges a ball down the left for Perisic, who whips to the near post. Van Dijk is forced to head behind for a corner, then issue Alexander-Arnold with a full-throated bollocking. Nothing much comes of the corner, but at the moment, an Inter opening goal looks only a matter of time.
55 min: One moment that encapsulates what’s going on at the moment: space and time for Thiago, with Mane to his left. Thiago takes an absolute age, and is eventually dispossessed by the irrepressible Vidal. Liverpool need to wake up, else Inter get the breakthrough they’re literally pressing hard for.
53 min: Dumfries sprays diagonally towards Perisic on the left. Perisic whips a cross to the far stick. Alisson and Konate are out of the game, but the cross is just too high for the in-rushing Lautaro. Liverpool are rocking here.
52 min: Bastoni, from a deep spot on the left, curls infield for Vidal, who for a second looks free on the penalty spot. Van Dijk again intercepts with a telescopic leg, just in time.
51 min: Some more space for Perisic down the left. He’s causing Liverpool a lot of trouble. He hangs one in for Dzeko, but it’s an easy claim this time for Alisson. The home side have continued where they left off at the end of the first half: on top.
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49 min: Perisic dribbles along the white line down the left. Despite the nearby presence of Alexander-Arnold, he manages to hook a cross in. Van Dijk does very well to block it from getting into the centre, with blue and black shirts hovering behind him. Alexander-Arnold completes the job by smacking upfield.
48 min: A free kick for Liverpool just to the right of centre, 35 yards out. Alexander-Arnold’s floated delivery is decisively headed clear by Dzeko.
47 min: There were no shots on target in that first half. Brozovic tries to finally work a goalkeeper, but drags a low shot wide left from 25 yards. “I quite like the new Inter flag,” says pre-match-build-up-reading Andy Tuohy. “It’s a bit fascistic looking but still. I’m a big fan of the Juventus logo which is a bit of a modern design classic.” Oh yes, that’s a beauty. You’re singing to the choir here. Fellow crest obsessives are encouraged to seek out The Beautiful Badge: The Stories Behind the Football Club Badge by Martyn Routledge and Elspeth Wills. It’s an absolute belter, and one you can lose yourself in for days.
46 min: Jota had been suffering from a dead leg earlier in the week, so perhaps that’s still bothering him.
The teams are back out ... and Inter get the second half started. De Vrij has been cleared to continue, and enjoyed a friendly back and forth with his Netherlands pal Van Dijk in the tunnel on the way out. Jota however has made way for Firmino.
Half-time entertainment. Jamie Jackson reflects on a great night for Manchester City in Lisbon.
HALF TIME: Internazionale 0-0 Liverpool
This is a fine battle. Both teams are fighting hard, both teams have created chances, both teams have come very close to opening the scoring, none more than Calhanoglu, who rattled Liverpool’s crossbar. An exciting second half coming up!
45 min +1: De Vrij is down again, still a bit discombobulated after that knock on the head. He leaves the pitch, but is once again sent back on by his manager. Not too sure how wise this is. De Vrij doesn’t look 100 percent at it right now. At least half time is only one more minute away. Small mercies.
45 min: Perisic launches long for Dzeko down the middle. For a second, it looks as though he’s clear, but Van Dijk steps in imperiously to shepherd the ball back to Alisson.
44 min: Elliott and Mane attempt a cute combination down the right, but only conspire to run the ball out for a throw. It’s not quite come off for the visitors in the final third.
42 min: Liverpool are beginning to look a little ragged for the first time this evening. Possession is shipped by Elliott and then Robertson in short order, and it’s not long before Klopp comes to the touchline to deliver some stinging words of beneficial advice while hopping around in an aerated manner.
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40 min: Now it’s Inter’s turn to win a corner, cheaply given away by Thiago. It’s whipped in from the right. Skriniar flashes a header wide left from ten yards. It’s a good to-and-fro battle, this one.
38 min: Liverpool are nearly hoist by their own petard. Inter breaking at pace from their corner, Calhanoglu tearing with pace and purpose towards the Liverpool box. The ball’s laid off to Lautaro, who is stopped on the edge of the D by Robertson’s well-timed intervention. How many times have we seen Liverpool score goals like that? Fans of West Ham and Arsenal are permitted to shudder.
37 min: An absurd passage of play as Liverpool players line up to take a touch in the Inter box. Salah, Jota, Elliott, Thiago, Jota again. None of them can quite sort their feet to shoot. Inter hold firm, just about.
35 min: Dumfries romps down the right and looks for Dzeko, free in the Liverpool box. His low cross doesn’t make it, intercepted by Konate’s last-gasp slide. Nothing comes from the resulting corner.
34 min: Robertson and Vidal tangle on the halfway line. It’s nothing more than a clumsy foul for Inter, but Vidal lies poleaxed. Eventually he’s hauled up by the referee, who delivers a quiet word. He’s wise to Vidal’s theatrical grift.
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32 min: A classic route-one move from Liverpool, a long ball flicked on by Mane to Elliott down the right. Elliott hooks into the middle for Salah, preparing to volley home from 12 yards. Calhanoglu is on point to hook away, just in time. Alexander-Arnold then flays one miles over the bar from distance.
31 min: ... or maybe not so lengthy. He’s instantly sent back on by his manager Simone Inzaghi.
30 min: De Vrij looks to have taken a knock upside the head, and calls the physio on for the once-over. The doc presses an ice bag to his head, but the player departs for a more lengthy check.
28 min: Salah busies himself down the left channel and is bowled over by Vidal. It’s 25 yards out. Alexander-Arnold fancies this, and whips viciously towards the top-left corner. It’s always heading wide, and Handanovic almost certainly had it covered anyway.
27 min: Inter are just about coping with the Liverpool press, the visitors struggling to find the final ball right now.
25 min: This game is being played at a rare old forward-thinking lick. It’s fair to say Helenio Herrera wouldn’t recognise this sport.
23 min: Alexander-Arnold crosses from the right, nearly teeing up Jota on the left of the six-yard box. Jota can’t get a shot away, so Mane wins a corner instead. That’s fired in long from the left, and Mane bothers the side netting with an acrobatic bicycle kick, six yards out. Another big chance there.
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21 min: Perisic takes, and hoicks straight out for a goal kick. Liverpool are a bit too casual at the restart, and soon enough Dumfries wins another corner, this time on the right. Nothing comes of it, much to the relief of Fabinho and Alisson in particular, both over-elaborating, albeit stylishly, the keeper languidly flicking away from Lautaro with the side of his boot.
20 min: Before the kick can be taken, Vidal is involved in more histrionic nonsense, this time with Alisson. Over comes the ref to have a chat.
19 min: It’s been a lively opening, and the home support continue to bother the fixtures and fittings with the sheer volume of their chanting. Up goes the volume even more when the ever-lively Perisic wins a corner down the left off Alexander-Arnold.
17 min: Fabinho is brought down as he makes his way along the inside-right channel. Free kick, 30 yards out. Before it can be taken, Vidal crashes to the floor in the theatrical style in a tussle with Van Dijk. The referee isn’t biting. Alexander-Arnold’s delivery is then easily dealt with by Skriniar.
16 min: Inter hit the woodwork! Perisic makes off down the left touchline and hooks infield to Calhanoglu, who from the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, launches a rising shot past Alisson at 101 mph. The ball caroms off the crossbar and away from danger. What a goal that would have been! In a parallel universe, we’ve had two goals in little more than a minute, and it’s 1-1.
14 min: Jota is clipped by Dumfries as he makes good down the left. Free kick. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Inter box. Robertson swings deep. Mane wins a header, level with the right-hand post, six yards out. He’d expect to score, but powers his header over the bar. That’s a huge opportunity.
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12 min: Dumfries plays a ball down the right for Lautaro. Liverpool’s high line catches both Lautaro and Dzeko offside. Jota romps up the other end on the counter, a lengthy run that’s bravely stopped by Skriniar to the left of the Inter D.
10 min: Elliott is already making himself at home. He takes down a high ball and plays an instant pass forward for Mane. Liverpool sweep upfield. Elliott then strokes a pass towards Robertson, wide left. Robertson hangs up a cross but Jota’s never going to beat Handanovic, who plucks calmly from the sky.
9 min: Alexander-Arnold takes. Mane attempts an acrobatic kick that is blocked by De Vrij. Fabinho, a goal machine at the moment, tries to force home but that’s blocked too. The ball breaks to Thiago, who shins over from the edge of the box. The Inter defence looking a bit shaky there.
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8 min: Fabinho snaffles the ball in midfield and slips quickly forward for Jota, who finds Salah to his right. Salah wins the first corner of the evening.
6 min: Perisic, a man who has scored in a World Cup final, drives down the left. The ball’s worked into the middle, where Lautaro has a go from 25 yards. His precise low curler flies inches wide of the bottom right, and at some speed. Alisson probably had it covered, but only just. The side netting ripples as the home fans gasp.
4 min: Thiago rakes a long pass down the right for Salah, who makes it into the box. He keeps cutting inside, hoping for some space to open up, but Bastoni ensures no opportunity presents itself. Salah attempts a weird backheel to nobody in particular, and the hosts clear.
2 min: The mist is a proper pea-souper, and descending at speed. Just as well both teams are in such distinctive shirts.
1 min: Liverpool are on the front foot quickly. Mane skitters down the right, reaches the byline, and stands one up for Jota in the middle. But Jota had shoved Dumfries, and the whistle goes to relieve the early pressure on Inter.
Liverpool get the ball rolling ... but only after taking the knee. There’s no room for racism. San Siro is bouncing.
The teams are out! The Nerazzurri are in their world-famous black and blue. One of the strips that just oozes classic, aristocratic, old-school European Cup charm, even in its modern distressed state. The Reds are in their equally renowned red. One hell of a look, and one hell of an atmosphere, a misty European night in an iconic arena. We’ll be off once Uefa have mangled Zadok the Priest.
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A couple of fate-tempting pre-match observations that won’t sit well with the more nervous and superstitious of Liverpool’s fanbase.
“Vidal, Dzeko and Alexis Sanchez. Especially Alexis Sanchez. If asked by a pollster in the street, I’d have guessed they all retired two or three years ago, or were helping out their old home clubs while setting up foundations for kids, or something. Alexis Sanchez! If he’s still haring round the pitch as in the old days, then the batteries were indeed pretty good” - Charles Antaki.
“I hope the San Siro has got good IT support because Liverpool is likely to put a huge strain on the Inter net” - Peter Oh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the non-fungible tokens.
Jurgen Klopp speaks to BT Sport, and he’s got young Harvey Elliott’s back. “It’s a team we thought makes sense for tonight, for the way we have to play against this team. We have to play in the half-spaces, and be good in one-on-one offensive situations, and from there we can go. We try to share the intensity a little bit between the group. When we qualified, I’m not sure which game it was, but directly after I met Harv on the pitch that evening and said: now look, this is about the Champions League when you are back, so we should not wait too long. The boy is in good shape, in a good moment football-wise. There is no pressure on his shoulders, it is just an opportunity. We will see how it goes. If it goes well, it’s all up to him; if it goes not so well, then it is my fault.”
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A couple of flags spotted fluttering, in the classic Anglia TV style, outside the San Siro earlier this afternoon. Inter’s old logo was lovely, wasn’t it.
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Inter make two changes to the team that drew 1-1 at Napoli last weekend. Arturo Vidal and Alessandro Bastoni come in for Nicolo Barella and Federico Dimarco. Edin Dzeko, formerly of Manchester City, starts, while erstwhile Arsenal and Manchester United striker Alexis Sanchez is on the bench.
Liverpool make four changes to the side sent out for the 1-0 victory at Burnley on Sunday. Diego Jota replaces Roberto Firmino up front, Ibrahima Konate is in for Joel Matip, and Naby Keita and Jordan Henderson are replaced in midfield by Thiago and Harvey Elliott, the 18-year-old making his first-ever Champions League appearance.
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The teams
Internazionale Milano: Handanovic, Skriniar, de Vrij, Bastoni, Dumfries, Vidal, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic, Martinez, Dzeko.
Subs: Sangalli, Gagliardini, Sanchez, Ranocchia, Cordaz, Dimarco, D’Ambrosio, Darmian, Carboni, Caicedo, Radu.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Thiago, Fabinho, Elliott, Salah, Jota, Mane.
Subs: Milner, Keita, Firmino, Gomez, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Tsimikas, Diaz, Origi, Matip, Kelleher.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).
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Preamble
Liverpool have a good record in the European Cup against Internazionale Milano. Of the four matches the two teams have contested, the Reds have won three of them, the most recent 2-0 and 1-0 wins at this stage in 2008. They won 3-1 in the first leg of the 1965 semis, too, but in the other leg this happened ...
... and so Liverpool fans of a certain vintage will forever be in the mood for righteous revenge. Inter go into this two-legged affair as underdogs, but they’re the current Italian champions, and, as Nicky Bandini reports, continuing to thrive under Simone Inzaghi, so Jurgen Klopp’s side will surely treat them with great care. Kick off at Stadio San Siro is 9pm in Milan, 8pm GMT. It’s on!
