Goals in the final 15 minutes from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah helped Liverpool beat Inter Milan 2-0.
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Liverpool produced a brilliant performance to register a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Inter Milan at San Siro on Wednesday night. Under the lights, the Reds matched the defending Serie A champions toe-to-toe in the first leg of the Champions League round-of-16 clash. Goals in the final 15 minutes from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah ensured that Jurgen Klopp’s side will have a healthy lead ahead of the second leg at Anfield. Liverpool have now won all seven of their European games this season. Besides, Klopp’s side are on a run of seven consecutive victories in all competitions.
After the match, Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara stated that the team has been preparing all season for nights like the one they had at San Siro on Wednesday. “I think we have played to arrive at this moment and have the chance to play these kind of games,” Thiago told Liverpoolfc.com post-match in Milan. “We were waiting for these kind of games and we were ready for that all this season so we are glad to be here.”
Thiago then went on to analyse the game as to how Liverpool suffered during the match but came through on the right side of the scoreline in the end. “We are talking about the biggest stage in the Champions League against an historically great team like Inter, playing here, trying to win the game. I think in the first half we created a lot of chances, then in the second they started to dominate the game and then fortunately we had this fabulous header from Bobby and after that we really controlled the game and we won it more, got the second one. We are really happy with the result,” he explained.
READ MORE – Inter Milan vs Liverpool: Salah and Firmino on target as Reds win 2-0
Asked about Jurgen Klopp crediting assistant manager Peter Krawietz and the Reds’ analysts for the set-piece routine that led to Firmino’s goal, Thiago said, “We always say that we have a great staff who prepare us for these type of actions and also we are really aware in training. In the end, in the Champions League the small details are the difference and we got [them] tonight.”
The strength in depth also played a major role in Liverpool running away with the match in the later stage. Asked about the influence of the players who came off the bench, Thiago said, “For sure. The pitch didn’t help both teams physically and we [had] a bit of heavy legs in the second half, and then came the fresh legs inside: great people, technical people, so after that we controlled even more the game.
