Mohamed Salah sees one Liverpool role filled already as Arne Slot gets message he was waiting for

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With their outspoken superstar left back at home, Liverpool’s players delivered their biggest result of the season for beleaguered Arne Slot.And the chants saluting the Reds boss that drifted down from the travelling Kop high up in the stands at San Siro after the final whistle of this impressive Champions League triumph demonstrated that they, as well as his players, remain firmly behind the Dutchman.Dominik Szoboszlai’s contentious penalty two minutes from time saw off Inter here in Milan and suggested fortune was perhaps now starting to turn in favour of Slot after a difficult season was made even more so by Salah’s blistering outburst at the weekend having been dropped for a third game in a row.It won’t have passed unnoticed that, as Liverpool’s usual penalty taker, it should have been the Egyptian stepping up to settle this match.Instead, Szoboszlai’s composed finish was no less than the visitors deserved after a performance that bore all the hallmarks of last season’s Premier League triumph rather than side that went into this match with just four wins out of 15.Liverpool’s committed display hardly smacked of a team that wasn’t playing for their head coach. Progress to the knockout stages now seems a certainty.Had Salah kept his thoughts in-house, he would almost certainly have started for a first time in four games with Cody Gakpo and Federico Chiesa absent through injury and illness respectively.The lack of attacking options went some way to forcing Slot’s hand by starting with Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike in tandem in attack for only the second time.The previous occasion may have seen Liverpool earn a 5-1 Champions League success at Eintracht Frankfurt in October, but the experiment was cut short due to Isak departing at half-time with a groin injury.It lasted until the 68th minute this time, with the jury very much still out on its effectiveness.

Ekitike was the more lively performer, although Isak at least appeared more involved, particularly during the first half.Wirtz had been the catalyst for that romp against Frankfurt but, having started three games in a week after returning from injury, his benching was one of four changes made by Slot in response to Saturday’s dramatic 3-3 Premier League draw at Leeds United.As much through necessity as design given the absences, the Reds boss employed a diamond midfield which proved pivotal in helping Liverpool first settle any early nerves and then restrict the threat of the home team.It helped that Liverpool had the game’s stellar performer in Ryan Gravenberch, whose ability on the ball was matched by his eagerness to maintain possession in the midfield scrap and the nous to sense danger that saw him twice thwart dangerous Inter progress.Alongside him, Szoboszlai again impressed while the busy Curtis Jones had perhaps his best game of the season on the left of the diamond.There were other positives, too. After allowing Leeds back into the game at the weekend when conceding a soft penalty, Ibrahima Konate was dominant at centre-back up against the dangerous Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram, while from the bench both Wirtz and Conor Bradley made a positive impact before the former was involved in the game’s decisive action.Liverpool more than held their own during a closely-fought first half and, with the new-look formation proving comfortable for the four midfielders, they tested Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer on several occasions.Jones, keen to set the tone, forced a parry after a strong run took him past several defenders into the area, with Sommer then keeping out a Szoboszlai shot from the same passage of play.Ekitike was released by Konate for a near-post effort that was turned behind before the Liverpool duo were involved in the first half’s controversial talking point, Van Dijk heading Szoboszlai’s corner off Ekitike towards goal where Konate reacted quickest to nod in.It took more than four minutes before referee Felix Zwayer, having eventually been invited to check his pitchside monitor, adjudged Ekitike to have handled.

It was a close call.Apart from a Nicolo Barella free-kick curled wide, Inter were kept at arm’s length until first-half injury time when Alisson Becker made a smart save to keep out a header after Martinez got in front of Virgil van Dijk.The second half was a more cagey affair, Martinez and Ekitike both having shots blocked and Isak wastefully wide from range.But the substitutions gave Liverpool new energy. Bradley could have done better when denied from close range by Sommer and then, after another VAR intervention, Szoboszlai held his nerve to score from the spot.A big win for Liverpool, this was a huge result for Slot.