By: Shane Brennan
Liverpool welcomed Inter Milan to Anfield on Wednesday evening, The Reds were in a commanding position going into the game as they held a 2-0 lead from their game at The San Siro a few weeks ago.
The first half was a quiet one by any Anfield European Night standards, as Inter Milan gave it everything to prevent any early Liverpool onslaught which more than likely would have finished the tie.
However the first Liverpool chance of the game was to come just over a half an hour into the game, when Joel Matip rattled the crossbar, from a Trent Alexander-Arnold free kick, with a super header, but somehow the ball didn’t go in, and from the resulting Ivan Perišić clearance Liverpool won a corner, which resulted in Virgil van Dijk towering a header towards goal, but once again diligent Milan defending prevailed, as Milan Skriniar threw himself in the way this time.
Then Milan really threatened to get their noses in front, Hakan Çalhanoğlu fired a free kick towards goal with plenty of curl on it, but thankfully it was to be one that Alisson Becker was equal to, as Liverpool’s 2-0 aggregate buffer remained intact.
Right on the half time whistle Liverpool won a free kick, which Alexander-Arnold thundered towards goal, but he just failed by the narrowest of margins to give The Reds the lead going into the half time break.
The second half was a much brighter spectacle, as Liverpool roused themselves, when Thiago Alcantara sent the ball forward for Diogo Jota, from which Samir Handanovic could only fumble the ball out as far as Mohamed Salah, where he could only manage to hit the post too.
Then Inter Milan started to open up and go for it, and they managed to create a really good chance of their own when Marcelo Brozovic set up Lautaro Martínez who got a fine shot away, unfortunately from the Italians point of view the ball drifted wide of Alissons post.
But the Argentinians luck was in shortly afterwards when he cracked a quite magnificent strike into the top corner of the net, to give Inter real hope of pulling the tie around, but hope was all but extinguished when less than a minute later Alexis Sanchez flew in on Fabinho, which earnt the former Arsenal striker his marching orders, and handed the numerical advantage to Liverpool.
It was to be a strange night in front of goal for The Reds in many ways, as they managed to hit the post again, when Sadio Mane ,found Salah with only Handanovic to beat, but that little bit of good fortune that is so often with Liverpool on nights like these, just wasn’t there on this particular occasion.
Then as if that wasn’t enough to emphasise Liverpool’s lack of luck on the evening, Trent Alexander-Arnold found Substitute Luis Diaz, who had only had Handanovic to beat, but Arturo Vidal managed to come out of nowhere to foil the Colombians best made plans.
Overall though it was to be Liverpool’s tie, and they take their place in the Champions League Quarter Final draw.
Up next for The Reds is a trip to The Amex Stadium to take on Brighton on Saturday afternoon.
