Klopp speaks!
David Hytner was at Anfield for this one. His report has landed, so click away at your leisure. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Jurgen Klopp talks to BT. “The difficulties we had were really close to what I expected. Inter are a really good side. Without playing brilliantly, we had a lot of chances but didn’t use that. They didn’t have many but scored a brilliant goal. So over the two legs it’s completely fine that we won one, they won one, and we are through. I think that’s fair. But we could have done better against an opponent who makes life really uncomfortable. We lost the game, which is obviously not cool, but respect to really strong opponents who caused us a lot of problems. We are through, and that’s the main target. It’s good that we don’t face Inter every week, they are warriors and fighters. What I didn’t like is our counter press was not really there. We didn’t get our momentum and that’s what we were lacking tonight.”
Mohamed Salah speaks to BT. “They are a tough team. Even in the away game they were very good. We struggled in the beginning. We had the ball in the second half more. The most important thing is that we qualified. I hit the post twice. It’s OK, maybe I score three next time! But the most important thing is the team qualifying. We lost a game but it is a good game for us to take it and learn from it. Maybe we got over-confident. It’s always important to win, but tonight we hit the post twice, and missed chances. But that can happen and the good thing is, it’s not in the Premier League and we have qualified. Everyone wants to win the Champions League and the Premier League, so we will fight for both, and let’s see.”
Inter put in a shift tonight, and bask in the bittersweet applause from the travelling fans. The Italian champions gave it a proper go, but the damage was done at San Siro. Liverpool can’t make it eight wins out of eight in this season’s Champions League, but they don’t care. Relief washes over Jurgen Klopp’s face, while Mohamed Salah busts out a huge grin. He didn’t have a great game by his own standards, yet hit both posts, which kind of illustrates the level he operates at usually. It certainly wasn’t a vintage Liverpool performance, but Matip hit the bar as well, while Diaz was denied at the end by one of the greatest last-ditch challenges you’ll see from the irrepressible Vidal. As for Alexis Sanchez ... well.
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FULL TIME: Liverpool 0-1 Internazionale (agg: 2-1)
Liverpool lose, but make it into the bag for the quarter-final draw anyway!
90 min +5: Matip barges into Correa on the halfway line. Vidal’s long free kick skims off Skriniar’s head, and out for a goal kick. That is surely that.
90 min+4: Gagliardini is booked for a late clip on Alexander-Arnold. Then Skriniar barges into the back of Salah, but the referee declines to award the obvious free kick.
90 min +3: He might not be laughing if Inter go on to find a second and force extra time ... and nothing comes of the corner. Inter are still alive!
90 min +2: Perisic takes on Alexander-Arnold down the left for the nth time. He doesn’t win this duel, though, and Alexander-Arnold barrels down the wing. He slips infield for Diaz, who traps six yards out and aims towards the bottom right. The shot’s going in, he’s sure to score ... but Vidal comes flying in from nowhere and deflects out for a corner! Wow! What last-ditch heroics! On the touchline, Klopp has the good grace to laugh at what he’s just seen.
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90 min +1: Gagliardini is caught offside on the edge of the Liverpool box. The hosts take their sweet time over the restart.
90 min: Gagliardini clears the corner. There will be five added minutes.
89 min: Robertson swings the corner in deep. Vecino bundles out for a corner on the right. Alexander-Arnold to take this one.
88 min: Diaz probes down the left. Salah down the right. Inter half clear. Robertson is suddenly sprung clear down the left by a long Matip pass. He’s got four team-mates free in the middle, but can’t get his cross past Skriniar, who deflects out for a corner.
87 min: Inter are closing down space in the manic style. Alisson raises the blood pressure by dallying with the ball at his feet, eventually pinging a pass away just in time with a black shirt closing in.
86 min: Now Bastoni pops up on the other flank to deal with the deep corner. He wins a goal kick.
85 min: Salah turns on the jets to make good down the right. He knocks the ball past Bastoni, who hangs out a leg while sliding across the turf to bring his man down. He’s booked. Taking one for the team, right there.
84 min: Liverpool respond by replacing Jota with Diaz.
83 min: Inter make their final change. Vecino comes on for Calhanoglu.
82 min: Jota and Keita get in each other’s way on the edge of the Inter D. Liverpool are pushing for an equaliser that would kill this tie, but they’re making hard work of it.
81 min: Liverpool ping it around in the clock-management style. “What’s next for Salah?” wonders Peter Oh. “Crossbar challenge?”
80 min: This is in danger of boiling over. Henderson very nearly connects with Perisic, taking a wild fresh-air swipe at the ball. Perisic responds with an incensed barge. The referee gets in between the pair, boxing style, before things can escalate.
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79 min: D’Ambrosio brings a lengthy period of Liverpool possession to an end by barging into Mane. Free kick out on the left, and a chance to load the box. “I think your judgment of Sanchez’s foul (65 min) was a little harsh – that second was hardly even a yellow,” argues Ingo Herzke. “He played the ball and then tried to pull back. The first one was very mean though. So in the end well deserved.” Hey, it’s all about opinions, huh.
77 min: Salah hits the other post! Having already smacked the ball off the base of the right-hand stick, he now meets Mane’s loop from the left, creaming a volley across Handanovic and off the left-hand post. He really connected with that one, but the frame saves Inter again.
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75 min: Inter make three changes. Brozovic can’t continue, while Martinez and Dumfries are hooked. Gosens, Correa and Gagliardini come on.
73 min: Brozovic, having been down to receive some treatment, continues to move rather gingerly. He might not last much longer.
72 min: The Liverpool press forces a corner, Handanovic failing to keep an overhit backpass in play. But the keeper punches the set piece clear. This is getting very frantic.
70 min: Bastoni goes down after Mane catches him in the face. He wants a red but it didn’t look deliberate. The referee splits the difference and shows yellow.
68 min: Salah slides a pass down the right for Henderson, whose low cross is hacked hysterically clear by Brozovic. Liverpool are reasserting some control. What a strange back and forth in momentum this second half has taken.
66 min: Liverpool make a double change, replacing Thiago and Jones with Keita and Henderson.
65 min: You know what, both of those yellows could have been reds. Sanchez has the brass neck to hang about and complain. He eventually takes his leave, along with Massimiliano Farris, one of Simone Inzaghi’s assistants, who has said too much for the referee to take.
RED CARD: Sanchez (Internazionale)
63 min: Just as Inter get themselves back into the tie, Sanchez picks up a second yellow for a studs-up follow through on Fabinho, catching the Liverpool man on the ankle. What a buffoon.
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GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Internazionale (Martinez 61); agg 2-1
Yep, the nerves are jangling now! Liverpool lose possession playing out from the back. Martinez is found, 25 yards out on the left. He takes a touch, and whistles a rising diagonal shot across Alisson and into the top right. What a goal!
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61 min: Calhanoglu leans back and hoicks a wild shot miles over the bar from the edge of the Liverpool D. The nerves are really beginning to jangle now.
60 min: The corner doesn’t beat the first man. But it’s a good response by Inter, this.
59 min: Vidal spreads a diagonal pass wide left for Perisic, who controls delicately before making good towards the Liverpool box. He cuts back for Calhanoglu, whose low first-time shot is blocked by Robertson. Liverpool clear, but Inter come back again, and suddenly Martinez has the ball at his feet by the penalty spot. He’s got time to pick a spot, but scuffs a shot off Robertson and out for a corner.
57 min: Whistles as Inter pass it around the back in an attempt to slow Liverpool down a bit.
55 min: Liverpool are beginning to cause Inter a few problems now, though one goal would change everything. Perisic worms his way down the left with that aim in mind. He can’t get a decent cross away. The tension in Anfield is palpable, though the home crowd have finally found their voice in the hope of inspiring their team into a decisive heave.
53 min: Anfield comes alive for the first time this evening as a result of Liverpool’s increased intensity. Salah tries to dribble in from the right again, and once more ends up stumbling down a cul-de-sac. It’s not been his night so far. He’s not struggling exactly, but does look like a player who could do with a goal.
52 min: Jota chases a Thiago dink down the inside-left channel. Handanovic comes out and pokes away from the Liverpool man. The ball breaks back to Salah, 12 yards out, the keeper out of position. He slams a low shot towards the bottom right ... and off the base of the post and away!
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51 min: Alexander-Arnold whips in from the right. Mane can’t win the header, six yards out. Robertson returns it from the left. Mane can’t win this one either. Better from Liverpool, with Inter suddenly struggling to get out of their own box.
49 min: Salah dribbles in from the right but can’t work space for a shot. He’s been a bit off form during the past couple of games. Tonight would be a fine time to get back to his usual high standards.
48 min: An Alexander-Arnold cross-cum-shot is deflected into the arms of Handanovic. Incidentally, it turns out Sanchez was at least booked for that poor studs-on-knee challenge on Thiago. The referee didn’t exactly flash the card, but Uefa have confirmed it happened.
47 min: Inter come flying out of the blocks again. Dumfries threatens to burst down the right and is brought down by Robertson, who goes into the book. Calhanoglu curls the free kick in at pace. Sanchez flashes a header straight at Alisson who gathers. The offside flag pops up anyway.
Liverpool get the second half underway. They’re kicking towards the Kop in this second half. Inter take off one of their defenders, De Vrij, and replace him with D’Ambrosio, going to four at the back.
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HALF TIME: Liverpool 0-0 Internazionale (agg: 2-0)
Alexander-Arnold whips over the wall, but the free kick is always going wide left. And that’s the end of a goalless first half.
45 min +6: Vidal is booked for a late slide into the back of Jones. A free kick on the edge of the D. Alexander-Arnold’s eyes light up.
45 min +4: Thiago is studded on his knee by Sanchez, who really should go in the book for that. You could even argue a straight red. The referee doesn’t even award a foul.
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45 min +3: Not much happens in the first three.
45 min +1: Jones is good to continue. There will be at least five extra first-half minutes.
45 min: Jones goes down on the edge of the Inter box while attempting a high-speed one-two with Salah. Calhanoglu clipped him, but the referee sees nothing and waves play on. Jones stays down. Inter eventually knock the ball out so Jones, who felt that, can get some treatment.
43 min: Big cheers for that save, though Anfield falls quiet again soon after. Plenty of nerves as Inter bare their teeth. “There’s always a constipational conundrum about a 1-0 or 2-0 first-leg lead,” begins Justin Kavanagh. “But you get the feeling watching this that a goal for Inter would act like a collective spoon of Andrews Liver Salts in every half-time drink sold at Anfield tonight.”
41 min: The free kick is just outside the Liverpool box on the right. Calhanoglu fires low and hard through a small gap in a crowded box and towards the bottom left. Alisson gets down to parry with a strong hand, and the ball is battered clear.
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40 min: Jota clips Skriniar to the floor as the Inter man works his way down the right. The referee waves play on, then Robertson brings down Dumfries, just to the right of the box. The ref books Jota, but awards a free kick for the second foul. Calhanoglu will take.
38 min: Vidal romps down the right and wins a corner off Robertson. Calhanoglu takes, and sends it into the six-yard box. Thiago’s header falls towards Van Dijk, who unceremoniously blooters clear of danger. Inter are putting up a proper fight here.
36 min: Thiago wins the ball in midfield and sends Mane off down the middle. Mane slips wide left for Jota, who looks to return the ball, only for it to be deflected back to Handanovic. This is a little better from Liverpool, who have upped their tempo.
34 min: Brozovic spins into space in the centre circle and threads a pass down the middle for Martinez, who momentarily thinks about tearing clear on goal, then spots y Van Dijk gliding into view and gives up the ghost. Van Dijk shepherds the ball back to Alisson with a cigar on.
32 min: Alexander-Arnold’s next corner is flat and half cleared, but that merely allows the Liverpool man to return instantly, an outrageous bit of improvisation that whistles through the six-yard box and away. Inter can finally relax.
31 min: In fact it’s Alexander-Arnold who swings it in viciously. Matip meets it and sends a header crashing off the underside of the bar. How did that stay out? Alexander-Arnold takes the resulting corner. Van Dijk meets this one, only for his close-range header to somehow be deflected wide by Skriniar. Liverpool so close on two occasions in short order!
30 min: The game restarts and Mane is clanked to the floor by Dumfries as he attempts to make his way down the left. Robertson and Salah stand over the ball.
29 min: A warm round of applause for the medical staff as the incident is dealt with and they depart the scene. Hopefully whoever was in distress is now safe and well.
28 min: Klopp takes the opportunity to gather his team together and dispense some beneficial advice. His team have been second best so far. He then enjoys a laugh and a joke with Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz, the wily old charmer.
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26 min: A pause in the game for a medical emergency in the Kop. Klopp frantically makes sure the officials stop the game, and the medical staff get to work.
24 min: Sanchez robs a dozing Fabinho again. Fabinho is really off the pace here. He looks slightly shocked at the intense pressing by the visitors.
22 min: The referee awards a couple of fairly soft free kicks to Inter, both against Fabinho. The crowd get irate. Some ironic cheers, then, when Martinez flips Fabinho to the floor and concedes a free kick himself. Meanwhile Alexander-Arnold does well to step in and shepherd a pass down the inside-left channel back to Alisson with Martinez hoping to break clear.
20 min: Inter have certainly unsettled Liverpool. Van Dijk looks uncharacteristically skittish, Sanchez and Perisic refusing to give him a second. Alisson slips while clearing Van Dijk’s slightly undercooked backpass. The anxiety is spreading.
18 min: Sanchez robs Fabinho on the halfway line and skedaddles down the middle. He’s this close to releasing Perisic with a threaded pass down the inside-left channel. A deflection takes the ball away from the dangerous Inter winger and Liverpool can clear.
16 min: Jota wins a corner down the right. Trent takes. Van Dijk wins a header, but he’s almost on the edge of the box, and can’t generate enough power to worry Handanovic, who claims calmly.
15 min: Sanchez is buzzing around at 101 miles per hour. He’s causing the Liverpool back four some anxiety ... and the home crowd are in lockstep with their heroes. Inter have been the better team during these early exchanges.
14 min: Sanchez slams the ball into the net, but it’s a futile gesture, the flag having long gone up for offside.
12 min: Inter have managed to complete their first task with this impressive start: they’ve quietened Anfield on a European night.
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10 min: Perisic was a thorn in Liverpool’s side at San Siro, and he looks in the mood again. He tears off down the left flank and whips in another cross. Easy pickings this time for Alisson, but it’s going to be a long evening for Alexander-Arnold by the looks of it.
9 min: Mane and Robertson combine cutely down the left, the latter winning Liverpool’s first corner of the evening on the overlap. Robertson takes himself and sends it deep. Vidal does well to clear with Mane shaping to shoot.
7 min: Calhanoglu strides down the middle with Martinez and Sanchez either side. The chance to send either players clear is spurned, as he clanks straight through to Alisson.
6 min: Perisic strides off down the left and dinks infield, hoping to find Martinez. Robertson eyebrows away from danger, just in time as well, because Martinez was shaping to volley home, eight yards out. This is a statement start by Inter, who are first to most things at the moment.
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4 min: Skriniar curls in from the right. Matip clears with Martinez lurking. Then a speculative ball down the left nearly finds Vidal, but Alisson comes out to smother. A decent start by Inter, who really do need to score first.
3 min: Salah turns on the jets to blast past Bastoni on the right. He enters the box but runs into Brozovic, who slams the door shut.
2 min: A relatively scrappy start, and a couple of loose passes by Thiago, who missed the last three matches and may need to shake off a little rust. The visiting Inter fans are giving it plenty.
Inter get the ball rolling ... but only after Liverpool take a knee. There’s no room for racism. A few boos reflecting Inter’s decision not to kneel.
The teams are out! Anfield roars in its trademark European style as Liverpool and Inter take to the field of play. Liverpool in red, Inter in black livened by that blockchain of colours. We’ll be off once Uefa have done a number on Zadok the Priest ... and the teams have mingled to pose for a photo in a show of solidarity with Ukraine.
Jurgen Klopp speaks to BT Sport about Liverpool’s good run and the prospect of another of those European nights at Anfield. “Confidence is like a little flower. Somebody stamps on it and you lose it in a second, and it takes ages to get it back. So you’d better deal with it properly. The boys know they are good, but the opponents are confident too, they smashed their opponents pretty impressively, and have high quality as well. Who wants it more? I’m really happy we play here. It doesn’t mean we have won it already, but it will help us and we can use it a lot. I couldn’t care less how they played their last games; they played us and they were really good. It was not a 2-0, it looked for a long time like a proper 0-0 and we would have been fine with that! We had to defend them with all they had, and we have to be ready tonight. We have to work hard.”
A reminder of how both teams got here. Liverpool won all of their games in Group B ...
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 11 | 18 |
| 2 | Atletico Madrid | 6 | -1 | 7 |
| 3 | FC Porto | 6 | -7 | 5 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 6 | -3 | 4 |
... while Inter had a more eventful time in Group D. The Nerazzurri took only one point from their first two games, losing 1-0 at home to Real Madrid in the first round of matches, but two 3-1 wins against Sheriff of Moldova, followed by a 2-0 victory at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, were enough to progress. A final 2-0 loss in Madrid consigned them to second place.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real Madrid | 6 | 11 | 15 |
| 2 | Inter Milan | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 3 | Sheriff | 6 | -4 | 7 |
| 4 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 6 | -10 | 2 |
Pennant watch. Samir Handanovič will present his opposite number Virgil van Dijk, standing in for the benched Jordan Henderson, with this classy bit of design ...
... and the shirts the rest of the team will be wearing aren’t half bad either. Hard to work out which decade has influenced this beauty the most. The 1970s? 1980s? 1990s? 1930s? It could be any or all, couldn’t it.
Liverpool make two changes to the XI selected for the first leg at San Siro. Curtis Jones takes the midfield place of Harvey Elliott, while Joel Matip replaces Ibrahima Konate, who missed training yesterday with an unspecified problem and isn’t in the squad. Thiago Alcantara returns from the thigh problem that cost him his place in the League Cup final.
Inter make just one change from the starting team named for the first match. Alexis Sanchez takes the place of Edin Dzeko.
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The teams
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson, Jones, Fabinho, Thiago, Salah, Jota, Mane.
Subs: Milner, Keita, Gomez, Adrian, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Tsimikas, Diaz, Origi, Kelleher, Elliott.
Internazionale: Handanovic, Skriniar, de Vrij, Bastoni, Dumfries, Vidal, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic, Martinez, Sanchez.
Subs: Gagliardini, Vecino, Dzeko, Ranocchia, Gosens, Correa, Cordaz, Dimarco, D’Ambrosio, Darmian, Caicedo, Radu.
Referee: Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (Spain).
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Preamble (agg: 2-0 after first leg)
The first leg of this was a slightly strange affair. Internazaionale outplayed Liverpool at San Siro for the best part of an hour, only for Jurgen Klopp to make a double change that titled the balance. Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah scored late, and that was seven wins out of seven for Klopp’s in-form side in the Champions League.
Liverpool have won 11 of their last 12 matches in all competitions, and the other one was a draw that led to a penalty shoot-out and their first silverware of the season. Yep, they’re in form all right, albeit fortunate to defeat West Ham last weekend at Anfield. Inter by contrast have won only one of the four matches they’ve played since the first leg, though that was a 5-0 rout of Salernitana last Friday. Until Lautaro Martínez’s 22nd-minute opener, Inter had gone 425 minutes without a goal in all competitions. He went on to score a hat-trick.
Liverpool have won all 34 European ties in which they won the first leg away from home. Inter, the champions of Italy and perfectly capable of giving them a match, will observe that records are there to be broken. Away goals may not count double any more, but the first one scored tonight will carry plenty of weight. Kick off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
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