Argentine Lautaro Martinez scored the game’s only goal in the 61st minute, but his Chilean teammate Alexis Sanchez received his second yellow card in the match three minutes later, to complicate the task of his team, which completed 26 minutes with ten men, in the possibility of turning the result in his favour.
And he returned to the ranks of Liverpool, his Spanish international midfielder Thiago Alcantara, who was injured during the warm-up period that preceded his team’s participation in the League Cup final against Chelsea on February 27.
On the other hand, the surprise at Inter was coach Simone Inzaghi’s decision not to include veteran Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko as a starter, preferring Chilean Sanchez to play alongside Martinez. However, Inzaghi’s coach could not count on his influential suspended midfielder Nicolo Parilla.
Liverpool entered the match without losing in its last 12 matches in various competitions, as it won its seven matches so far in the Champions League and scored 19 goals, including 8 goals for its Egyptian star Mohamed Salah.
Inter had the most movement at the beginning of the match, without any danger to the Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
On the other hand, Liverpool gradually entered the atmosphere of the match and had the most prominent opportunities in this half when its Cameroonian defender Joel Matip headed the ball, but the crossbar stood in the way of it not entering the goal (30).
Turkish midfielder Hakan Chahalanoglu tried to deceive Alisson with a cunning shot from a direct free kick, but the Brazilian goalkeeper shoved it brilliantly (41).
In the second half, Inter tried to open the scoring to undermine Liverpool’s confidence and succeeded in his quest when Martinis received a ball on the outskirts of the area and fired it powerfully into the upper corner of Allison’s goal (61).
The joy of the guests was short-lived, however, after Sanchez was sent off three minutes later.
There was a prominent opportunity for Liverpool to equalize when Senegalese Sadio Mane passed an elegant ball towards Salah, but the latter’s ball hit the post (75).
Mane played his 50th match in the Champions League, thus becoming the sixth player from Liverpool to reach this barrier in the continental competition with its new name since the 1992-93 season.
