Liverpool’s next Champions League opponents Inter Milan defeated Juventus in the final moments of the Italian Super Cup last week.
The game went to extra time after a Lautaro Martinez penalty cancelled out Weston McKennie’s opener.
Alexis Sanchez recorded the latest goal scored in Italian Super history in the 120th minute, winning the cup for Inter in the process.
The game offered a preview of what Jurgen Klopp should expect of the Italian’s next month in the Champions League round of 16.
Inter are a very strong defensive unit that make few errors and demonstrated that as they remained patient for two hours of football to defeat the Old Lady.
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Simone Inzaghi’s side dominated possession and created significantly more chances in the game and remained defensively resilient, dismissing all of Juve’s efforts to counterattack.
The three/five back system they play allows tactical flexibility in the sense that they can have five men in defence or in midfield at different periods in the game, allowing Inter to have a numerical advantage against their opponent’s midfield and oncoming attackers in the relevant phases of play.
The defensive trio of Milan Skriniar, Stefan De Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni are all excellent individual defenders who with the help of the wing-backs allow very little space in their third of the pitch.
Liverpool could perhaps struggle against such a structure as they have against other Italian sides such as Napoli in the past.
The Reds sometimes find it difficult to break down teams that are compact and very quick to adapt their shape when they win the ball.
Evidenced from the Atletico Madrid tie in the 2019/20 season, Liverpool have on occasion grown impatient against rigid defensive units - giving up too much space in the deep wide areas as a result, leading to being punished in transition.
Inter’s five more defensive players allow for their midfield trio to have more freedom.
Nicolo Barella, Marcelo Brozovic and Hakan Calhanoglu are dangerous creative profiles, who with the opportunity to feed Edin Dzeko aerially and Martinez in behind.
Inter have certainly made a strong statement that they are comfortably the best team in Italy right now.
And although Liverpool will be clear favourites going into the game, the Italians are far from walkovers.
