Liverpool travelled to Italy without Mohamed Salah after the forward was left out of the squad for his post-match rant following Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Leeds United, where he hit out at the club and Arne Slot as he claimed that he had been thrown “under the bus".
Salah’s teammates did their utmost to put all the outside noise aside to make an encouraging start against Inter, with Curtis Jones forcing Yann Sommer into action in the opening 20 minutes.
Ibrahima Konaté then briefly thought he had opened the scoring when he headed home just past the half-hour mark. However, the defender was denied his second goal of the league phase after Hugo Ekitike was penalised for a handball from Virgil van Dijk’s knockdown following a lengthy VAR review.
Inter grew into the half following that reprieve and threatened to establish a HT lead through Lautaro Martínez, whose powerful header tested Alisson's quick reactions.
The chances dried up after the interval as the respective attacks struggled against two stubborn backlines. The lack of goalmouth action prompted Hugo Ekitike to take aim from distance with an effort that proved comfortable for the experienced Sommer.
The first real chance of the second period arrived in the 80th minute when Conor Bradley found rare space in the Inter box, but he could only fire straight at Sommer at the near post.
Just as the game looked destined to finish goalless, Liverpool were presented with the chance to snatch all three points from the spot, after Alessandro Bastoni was controversially penalised for a slight shirt tug on Florian Wirtz.
Szoboszlai assumed responsibility to convincingly thump his penalty out of Sommer’s reach, sealing a win that moves the Reds up to eighth spot and level on points with fifth-placed Inter, who have now suffered back-to-back defeats in the UCL.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool)
