Dominik Szoboszlai’s late penalty gave the Reds a huge win at the San Siro in the absence of Egypt star Salah, who was left in England after publicly criticising manager Arne Slot at the weekend.
Liverpool fans loudly chanted Slot’s name at the end of a largely drab match which was decided by Felix Zwayer’s decision to give the English champions a perfect chance to snatch the points.
Inter’s players were enraged at the awarding of the spot-kick for a light shirt tug by Alessandro Bastoni on Florian Wirtz, but it gave Slot a happy end to a troubled few days.
The closest either team came to scoring before then was when Ibrahima Konate had his close-range header ruled out, after a lengthy VAR check, for a Hugo Ekitike handball in the 37th minute.
Tuesday’s win puts Liverpool on 12 points from six games and inside the top eight positions which offer direct qualification for the last 16, ahead of Wednesday’s fixtures.
Inter, meanwhile, are fifth on the same tally but have lost their last two European fixtures and created nearly nothing against an injury-hit Liverpool who were missing not just rebel star Salah but also unfit Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo. (AFP)