Simone Inzaghi had the unenviable task of following Antonio Conte at Internazionale as the club looked to balance the books by offloading players. He’s done well though, arguably improving Inter’s possession play and sitting just one point behind AC Milan in Serie A with a game in hand.
Inter were top until recently, where a loss to their city rivals and draws against Napoli and Atalanta cut into their lead. Inzaghi made two changes to the team that drew with Napoli, swapping out Federico Dimarco and the suspended Nicolo Barella for Alessandro Bastoni and Arturo Vidal in their 3-5-2 shape.
Jürgen Klopp made four changes to the side that beat Burnley, replacing Joël Matip, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keïta and Roberto Firmino with Ibrahima Konaté, Harvey Elliott, Thiago Alcântara and Diogo Jota. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Inter pressed high using man-orientations. Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez would each pick up a Liverpool centre-back, Denzel Dumfries and Ivan Perisic pushed forward to Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, while the midfielders each stuck to their opposite number – Marcelo Brozovic on paper should have been the deepest of the three, but on the pitch he would often get drawn the furthest forward, sticking tight to Fabinho.
This pressure created Inter’s best chances, hassling Liverpool into giving the ball away in their own half then springing forward. Inter’s set-up was well set up for overloading Liverpool’s backline, with the two forwards and wing-backs occupying the back four, meaning Arturo Vidal and Hakan Calhanoglu could make runs through the gaps.
It didn’t always work though. Liverpool’s centre-backs would split wide to pull away from Inter’s forwards into space, while each Inter midfielder sticking tight to their opposite number left space between them and the defensive line for Liverpool’s forwards to drop into. This enabled Liverpool to cut through Inter, however aggressive defending by Inter’s centre-backs ensured there was rarely an opportunity for the forwards to turn and attack.
Liverpool on the other hand generally looked to sit back in a mid-block with the forwards cutting off passes into midfield. Inter tried to force Liverpool into engaging them by simply holding onto the ball, where they would then pump the ball long over the top of the press, but a lot of the time they were forced into playing wide, where Liverpool generally found it quite easy to trap them against the touchline.
Inter gradually began to drop off into a mid-block more and more as the first half went on and by the second half there was a noticeable change in the backline even when Inter were pressing. Rather than aggressively stepping up to limit the space for Liverpool’s attackers, all three would drop off to protect their box, giving Liverpool’s attackers space to turn and run at the defence yet leaving them needing to beat three players to get at the most dangerous area.
Conversely Liverpool began to press higher up in the second half. Firmino was introduced at half-time, while Henderson and Keïta came on a quarter of an hour later, upping the energy levels, alongside Luis Diaz who offered more dribbling. This gave Inter more space to play through Liverpool.
They also had Brozovic drop into the backline, freeing Bastoni to push forward and double up on Alexander-Arnold with Perisic down the left.
Nevertheless, neither side were really threatening from open play. For the fifth match in a row, it was a set-piece that gave Liverpool the lead. Just as Burnley had, Inter used a mixed-marking system that left space at the near post. Firmino simply sprinted away from the marking of Bastoni to attack this space and flick the ball on, edging inside the far post.
Liverpool then doubled their lead from a free-kick. The initial kick was cleared but the follow-up was headed down by Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah was the first man to the ball to finish past Samir Handanovic.
It was a very bland match that neither team could have complained about had it remained goalless, yet set-pieces allowed Liverpool to take a two goal lead back to Anfield, making them strong favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.
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