Simone Inzaghi admits Inter leave the Champions League with ‘regrets’ after beating Liverpool at Anfield, but he does not wish he’d substituted Alexis Sanchez before the red card. ‘Absolutely not.’
The Nerazzurri knew it was a mountain to climb after losing the first leg 2-0 and just as Lautaro Martinez had scored a spectacular strike from the edge of the box into the far top corner, a minute later Alexis Sanchez was sent off.
Down to 10 men, completing the comeback proved too difficult, especially as they rode their luck with Liverpool hitting the woodwork three times.
“There are certainly great regrets, as we wanted to reach this Round of 16 with all our strength, we were up against Liverpool, who along with Manchester City and Bayern Munich are the best team in Europe right now, and we fought them on an even keel,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
Champions League | Liverpool 0-1 Inter (2-1 agg): Martinez magic not enough
“We are probably paying the price for the final 15 minutes of the first leg, because I think we had two very good games against an excellent opponent.”
The first leg 2-0 defeat proved decisive, with late goals at San Siro from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
“I think the first 75 minutes saw us deserve far more, then we conceded on a corner, which wasn’t even a good one, and the second goal really knocked us down.
“We came to Anfield to give our best and we emerge fortified from this meeting with a top team. During our best period of the game and the worst for them, Alexis Sanchez was sent off, that was bad timing.”
Inzaghi famously substitutes players who are on a yellow card, but opted to keep Alexis Sanchez on even after he risked a straight red for the first booking on Thiago Alcantara. Does he regret not making the change earlier?
“Absolutely not, because in that moment I needed Sanchez on the pitch and was not going to change him on a night like this.”
Edin Dzeko, Robin Gosens and Felipe Caicedo remained on the bench throughout at Anfield, so did Inter really give it their all to win?
“I had a few fitness issues as well as being down to 10 men. Hakan Calhanoglu was tired, Dzeko will be very important in Turin, so I had to make other calculations. I wasn’t trying to protect the 1-0, I was trying to keep it in the balance to the end so we could snatch it with a set play.
“The regret is Sanchez, because Liverpool really were shaken by Lautaro’s goal and I wanted to see what happened after that.”
Caption this:#UCL pic.twitter.com/8TgQyGBNYA
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Considering inter weren’t even at full strength – I think this is a good demonstration of the strength of our league. Put their best player barella and gosens into that team, with Dzeko, correa, perisic/dumfries, Vidal as your 4 subs and the team arguably is better than Liverpool. Congrats from a Milan fan
Inter really played well over 2 games. Inzaghi is right. They paid for last 15mins in Milan. Had it being only 1 goal deficit or inter would have take. Their chances from 1leg this anfield match would have been different.
Well played inter. Everyone expected them to rollover to Liverpool at andfield and they come away with win.
Well done from Milan fan!!
No way is Inter even close to Liverpool
I always believe the 2 milanese clubs represent Italy best chance for a silverware in Europe. Inter can definitely build on this performance next season. They have a great team and a great tactician.
Well done Mister Inzaghi. You nearly beat one of the best teams and managers in Europe. Inter are up there – next year even better.
Not even close – despite winning 1-0 away and didn’t even have their strongest available lineup like Liverpool did? Inter aren’t even in good form at the moment add 2-3 decent players for the bench and inter walk Liverpool easily
liverpool are human after all..but not all referee are human