Lautaro Martinez strike for 10-men Inter Milan sinks Liverpool at Anfield but Reds walk through to Champions League quarter-finals
It had been a year exactly since Jurgen Klopp’s players last lost at Anfield, an unlikely defeat in the league to Fulham, and although this next one did not halt their progress into the Champions League quarter-finals it may well play on the mind of the Liverpool manager a little longer. For around half an hour, Liverpool were up against the ten men of what was certainly a determined and liberated Inter Milan side who were prepared to risk everything to get back into this tie.
So much so that Alexis Sanchez, once of Arsenal and then that forgettable spell at Manchester United, was dismissed on 63 minutes for his second ill-judged tackle of the game. It was the game’s turning point and, having only just taken the lead, Inter just never recovered. They were close, however, and the Lautaro Martinez goal, a fine moment of inspiration from him, just two minutes before the red card for Sanchez asked many questions of Liverpool. They ended the game with Mohammed Salah having struck both of the posts of Samir Handanovic’s goal in the second half at the Kop end.
Yet at the end, it was Klopp’s players shutting down attacks, if not clinging on. Without the parity of numbers, Inter could not make the pressure overwhelming. This was the end of a 15-game unbeaten run for Liverpool in all competitions that stretches back to the Dec 28 defeat to Leicester City at the King Power and had endured up to this point through games in all four of the trophies for which they are still in contention. That first-leg win in Milan was enough although in the end, it felt a little too close for a club of Liverpool’s power in this competition – even if it was against the champions of Serie A.
It was only at the end of the first half that Inter’s composure seemed to slip and the high-energy approach that had the home side pushed back for periods of the game started to fade somewhat. The Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal at last saw his efforts rewarded with a booking so emphatic that the Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz did not stop advancing on his intended target and the pair ended up in a reconciliatory embrace. In those final moments, Liverpool had started to open up the routes to goal. It was Curtis Jones who was fouled by Vidal as he attacked the Inter final third in the last few minutes. Alexis Sanchez had already found himself in the book for an inexact lunge in for the ball that felled Thiago Alcantara.
These two South American veterans of the European game had found themselves in the thick of the early action but then the momentum had faded somewhat and Liverpool looked in a greater degree of control. The home side had gone the closest and looked most dangerous from corners and free-kicks whipped in by the endlessly adaptable right foot of Trent Alexander-Arnold. From a 31st minute free-kick from his right side, the full-back had picked out Joel Matip for a header that clipped the bar and stayed in play. From the ensuing corner from the same side Virgil Van Dijk sent a good header in the right direction and it was blocked by Milan Skriniar coming in close behind the Dutchman. So much talent in this Inter team, the reigning Serie A champions, but struggling for consistent form since the turn of the year.
Friday’s 5-0 win over Salernitana was the first in six games in all competitions including the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in San Siro the previous month. In the early stages they looked impressive with a midfield five and Lautaro Martinez and Sanchez leading the press. On the back foot they had a five-man defence with Ivan Perisic and Denzel Dumfries closing down the wider positions. It took a while for Liverpool to get the measure of them. Still it helped that there was no real prospect in the first half of Inter’s strikers getting beyond Van Dijk who seemed to read every intention and control every surge in behind his team’s defensive line. That was the struggle for all the running in the midfield areas – it was only a single shot from Hakan Calhanoglu – a free-kick from the right conceded by Jota – that required a good save from Alisson.
The preface to Martinez’s fine goal that briefly changed the mood of the game was the first Salah chance that struck the post. The Premier League’s top goalscorer this season does not miss many but this one had just about enough to distract him from the key task. The Inter goalkeeper Handanovic had launched himself at the ball flicked into Jota’s direction and it had come out to Salah who tried to direct it in the corner and just misjudged. There seemed to be a momentum that was unstoppable about Liverpool until Matip’s mistake on the right side that was recycled into a fine goal for Inter seconds later. Within three passes it went to Martinez, the final ball coming from Sanchez, and the Argentinian striker in the inside left position struck a perfect shot with enough slice on it to take the ball beyond the reach of Alisson.
So to the red card, just two minutes after the goal – a difficult one at first for Sanchez to accept given that he did get to the ball but his lack of control then took him into Fabinho. There are few half-measures from this Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz who likes to appear a man in control. This one was a close call and he made it swiftly. He followed up that second yellow for Sanchez with the dismissal of one of Inter manager Simone Inzaghi’s staff. Salah would hit the post again and the substitute Luis Diaz also had a chance for the equaliser.
Despite that Liverpool did not give as many chances away at the back as Inter would have liked, and Klopp’s team reach the final eight with a sense of relief at Anfield that such achievements now are the very least that is expected.
