Liverpool shrugged off the absence of Mohamed Salah as midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai scored an 88th-minute penalty to give it a 1-0 win against Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, boosting its hopes of a top-eight finish.
With Salah’s recent fallout with head coach Arne Slot still fresh, Liverpool needed a positive result, but Inter made it hard for the Reds until a late loss of concentration cost the Serie A side dearly.
With the game heading for a draw, Alessandro Bastoni tugged on Florian Wirtz’s shirt, and the German’s theatrical tumble in the box alerted the VAR, which told the referee to take a second look.
Szoboszlai stepped up and slammed the ball past goalkeeper Yann Sommer to lift his side to eighth in the table on 12 points after six of its eight group games.
With the top eight qualifying directly for the last 16, Inter is fifth, also on 12 points but with a superior goal difference.
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Curtis Jones got the visiting side off to a promising start when he tested Inter ‘keeper Sommer with an early shot, but the Merseysiders quickly got bogged down as Inter’s disciplined defending offered them few opportunities.
Liverpool thought it had taken the lead through a close-range header from Ibrahima Konate just after the half-hour mark, but a lengthy VAR review saw the goal chalked off for a Hugo Ekitike handball moments prior.
Inter headed into the break having already made two substitutions as both Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi were forced off due to injury, but it more than held its own in the second half until the late spot kick.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Conor Bradley and Wirtz replaced Joe Gomez and Alexander Isak in the 68th minute, and the two had an immediate impact, with Bradley coming close with a shot from a tight angle and Wirtz playing his part in winning the penalty.
There appeared to be little danger as defender Bastoni cleared a chip towards Wirtz, but he had grabbed a handful of the Liverpool substitute’s shirt and pulled him back, and after another VAR review, the referee pointed to the spot to give the Reds a chance they desperately needed.
“Huge result. We knew we were coming to a tough place, to a team that’s in a good moment. We had to show fight and dig in. The clean sheet was crucial, and then we went and scored the goal,” Liverpool defender Andy Robertson said.
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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said that his side had handled the game well. “It could have been a 0-0 game in the end,” he added. “But it ended positively for us.”
There was disappointment for Inter, which started with four straight wins but has now lost two in a row.
“It’s tough to lose this game, the positive side is if we play like this, we win most games,” defender Manuel Akanji said.
Published on Dec 10, 2025
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