First the Liverpool hierarchy protected Arne Slot’s authority by axing Mohamed Salah from a daunting Champions League assignment in Milan. The Liverpool team then followed suit by inflicting Inter’s first European home defeat since September 2022. A brooding superstar with a bruised ego watched from afar while Liverpool fans serenaded Slot at San Siro.
Salah might well have taken the decisive 88th-minute penalty had he not talked himself out of the trip to San Siro, another legend of the game that is showing its age. Instead it fell to Dominik Szoboszlai, the friend Salah had in effect argued should not be playing on the right ahead of him, to deliver a precious victory for Slot after Alessandro Bastoni had been penalised for pulling Florian Wirtz’s shirt in the box.
It was a soft penalty and a hard slog of a game. Liverpool, and especially their head coach, will not care a jot after the trials of the past few days. Slot needed at the bare minimum a committed display from his team to counter allegations that Salah’s criticisms are shared by others in the dressing room. He got commitment and much more. The visitors produced a vastly improved defensive performance and worked tirelessly to stifle a dangerous Inter team that have reached two of the past three Champions League finals.
A deserved point appeared to be Liverpool’s reward until the video assistant referee sent the German official Felix Zwayer to the pitchside monitor to review Bastoni’s infringement. Szoboszlai swept his spot‑kick high into Yann Sommer’s top corner and Inter’s 18-match unbeaten home run in Europe was over. The release for Liverpool was palpable.
Salah had given Liverpool no option but to leave him out of the trip to Italy. Slot’s authority over the rest of the squad would have been seriously undermined had he travelled. The timing of the interview at Elland Road was bad enough with Slot, Salah and his teammates all struggling – and supposedly sticking together in adversity – but made worse by the limited options available to Liverpool in Milan. Slot was unable to fill his bench with Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo also absent. Without the source of 46 Champions League goals for Liverpool the team’s highest goalscorer in the competition on the night was Virgil van Dijk, with five.
Liverpool’s bench may have been threadbare but Slot was able to field a £204m frontline partnership in Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitiké. The summer signings started in front of a midfield diamond in which Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister all had freedom to rotate. The result was better protection for the Liverpool defence and confusion in the Inter ranks as they took around 40 minutes to work out how to counter the visitors’ altered approach.
The first notable act of the night, given the circumstances, was the sound of Slot’s name being chanted by the sizeable Liverpool support high up with the gods. Salah’s song did not get an airing all night.
Inter’s uncertain start was not helped by losing the midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu to injury after 11 minutes. The central defender Francesco Acerbi followed him to the treatment room with an apparent hamstring problem 20 minutes later. The captain, Lautaro Martínez, also collected an early booking for a ridiculously late foul on Andy Robertson.
Liverpool were controlled, measured and exploiting space around Inter’s three-man central defence. Sommer saved from Jones and Ekitiké in the first half, the latter leading to a corner from Szoboszlai that almost gave Liverpool a merited lead. Ibrahima Konaté headed home from close range after Ekitiké had flicked on. A first look at a replay showed the ball looping off Ekitiké’s arm yet it took almost four minutes for the match officials to disallow the goal. Zwayer ruled that, although the ball may have been headed on to Ekitiké by Van Dijk, the striker’s arm was in an unnatural position.
Almost inevitably, Inter improved and Martínez drew a fine save from Alisson with a bullet header from Bastoni’s cross. Cristian Chivu’s team were more composed after the restart but the contest remained evenly matched and, in truth, fairly uneventful. Bastoni swiped clear in front of his own goal after a flowing Liverpool move involving Ryan Gravenberch and Isak teed up Robertson for a dangerous cross from the left. When Nicolò Barella found Martínez in space 20 yards from the Liverpool goal, Van Dijk made an important block to deny the Argentina international.
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Slot introduced Wirtz for the quiet Isak and Conor Bradley for Joe Gomez. Bradley made a huge impact, almost creating an immediate breakthrough for Ekitiké with his first touch and forcing Sommer to save at his near post when released clear in the box by the France international. Bradley was also the driving force behind the passage of play that led to Liverpool’s late penalty.
At the end of an unedifying storm, Slot could savour the reaction from those players who clearly remain behind him.
