Jurgen Klopp admitted Liverpool found Inter Milan a real test as they progressed to the Champions League quarter-finals despite a rare Anfield defeat.
Lautaro Martinez gave the Italian side a 1-0 win on the night, but Alexis Sanchez’s red card halted any late charge and the Reds saw out the rest of the match to win 2-1 on aggregate.
It was Liverpool’s first defeat on home soil for a year and a day, but it did not stop them booking their place in the last-eight draw.
“Inter are a really good side and set up for these kind of games,” Klopp said.
“They are really fighters and I’m happy we don’t play this type of team every week.
“Without playing brilliant, we had a lot of clear-cut chances and didn’t use them. They didn’t have many, but they scored a goal.
“Over the two legs I think it is fine they won one and we are through. That’s a fair assumption. We could have done better against a side that makes life really uncomfortable.
“We lost the game which is obviously not cool, we didn’t come here tonight to lose a home game, but respect to the opponent and we are through. That’s the main target.”
While Liverpool hit the woodwork three times themselves, they could not find the goal that would have kept their Anfield unbeaten run going and ensured a more comfortable conclusion to the match.
Klopp was disappointed with elements of his side’s performance, even if didn’t prove to be costly in the end.
“The difficulties we had were pretty close to what I expected,” Klopp said.
“The opponent caused us problems but if we had used our chances we win this game. We lost a lot of simple balls, which can happen and when the ball was in the air it was like slapstick with the wind.
“I didn’t like the counter-press, it was not really there. We were around challenges but not in challenges and we didn’t get the momentum, that’s what we were lacking.”
