In a thoroughly pulsating Champions League tie in Milan that simmered and occasionally crackled for the better part of 80 minutes, Inter and Liverpool produced a first leg in keeping with the competition’s legacy.
It wasn’t a score fest like we have almost come to expect in recent seasons, but it was a tense and tactically astute affair, with quality from both sides.
But where the quality from Inter that really was lacking was in the final third. Simone Inzaghi’s side huffed and puffed, but the lack of genuine moment of brilliance effectively hurt Inter the most, especially when they were on top of proceedings and had Liverpool on the ropes in the period at the beginning of the second half.
They failed to test Alisson, and ultimately paid for it.
Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp flexed their muscles by bringing on the likes of new signing Luis Diaz, Naby Keita and captain Jordan Henderson, which was another major turning point in the game.
But Inter, despite their obvious limitations, exposed some Liverpool weaknesses.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of the finest right-backs in the game, but it’s no outrage to say he’s substantially better going forward than he is at defending. This is one aspect of his game that he’s improving at, but he still leaves Liverpool’s defence exposed with his forays deep into the opposition’s half.
Inter exploited this time and again, with Ivan Perisic getting in behind the gaps left by Alexander-Arnold. Most of the Nerazzurri’s most threatening moves came down the left, with Alexander-Arnold often nowhere to be found at times.
Had Inter possessed quicker and better striker than Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez, Liverpool likely would’ve been punished.
Liverpool’s high defensive line was maximised to its fullest at San Siro and it worked perfectly. At times Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson were closer to the halfway line than their own box, but it proved effective in killing many of Inter’s attacks, as Dzeko was too slow to make up the ground when he did manage to break through.
But again, there were elements of weakness from Klopp’s side with the use of the high line. Had Liverpool been playing against a team with a quicksilver forward, they could’ve been punished. On several occasions, Dzeko broke through the lines, but he was never going to beat Van Dijk or Konate in a foot race, not even at his peak, let alone when he's verging on his 36th birthday.
With Liverpool almost certain to advance to the quarter-final, they are likely to encounter a better team than Inter, and with that comes better players who could exploit their weaknesses in a way the Italian champions couldn’t.
Should Liverpool encounter a Raheem Sterling or Kylian Mbappe or Robert Lewandowski in the next round, then it might be a different story.
Liverpool are among the favourites to win the Champions League, but Inter have provided the template on how to get at the six-time winners, and Pep Guardiola will have taken note.
