Liverpool take the lead in their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie after beating Inter Milan (0-2), this Wednesday at the San Siro.
In a fast paced and highly entertaining match, the English gave a lesson in efficiency and took the victory with two goals in the second half, scored by the Brazilian Roberto Firmino (minute 74) and by the Egyptian Mohamed Salah (82).
The second leg will be played at Anfield on March 8.
In a first half without too many scoring chances for either team, it was Inter who had the clearest, in a left-footed shot by the Turkish Hakan Calhanoglu that crashed into the crossbar (minute 16).
Liverpool dominated, but without procuring too many scoring chances, closing the first half without shots between the sticks.
A header over the crossbar by Senegalese Sadio Mané, from Andy Robertson’s cross, was the Reds’ clearest chance in the first 45 minutes.
After the break, it was the team led by Simone Inzaghi who took a step forward and went on to dominate the game, putting Liverpool in trouble, especially with the addition of Ivan Perisic from the left.
The Argentine Lautaro Martínez did not reach a Croatian center by centimeters in what could have been the first goal of the game (53) at the time when Liverpool suffered the most, which led Jürgen Klopp to make changes to try to change the dynamics, including the entry of Firmino and the Colombian Luis García, in the Champions League debut with the Reds of the former Porto player who as soon as he left had a chance that ended in a corner (63).
As the minutes progressed and the players became more tired, the match became an entertaining give-and-take and as usually happens in this type of match, the team that forgives ends up paying for it.
Inter missed two clear chances for the Bosnian Edin Dzeko (71) and the Dutchman Denzel Dumfries (73) and it was Liverpool who ended up scoring on a corner kick taken by Robertson that Firmino headed at the near post, crossing the ball out of reach of Samir Handanović (75).
That goal fell like a bucket of cold water and Salah took advantage of it to score the second (83), with a left-footed shot from inside the area that touched Brozovic, to leave the tie very uphill for the Italians.
Ecuadorian striker Felipe Caicedo did not add minutes in his second call with Inter, however, he watched the game from the bench. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
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