Former Juventus striker Ian Rush believes Liverpool will beat Inter in the Champions League and praises Thomas Tuchel for dropping Romelu Lukaku after his controversial interview with Sky Sport Italia.
Inter have qualified for the Champions League round of 16 for the first time in ten years and have been paired with the Reds in the first round of the knock-out phase.
The Nerazzurri will host Jurgen Klopp’s side at the Stadio Meazza on February 16 and visit the Reds at Anfield Road on March 3.
“Two great teams, two great histories, by the way, Liverpool are playing really well at the moment as a team,” said Rush as quoted by Calciomercato.com.
“Playing an Italian team is always difficult to score, but Liverpool have a front three that will score goals. It will be a difficult game, but I can see Liverpool coming out on top.”
The Nerazzurri have adapted to life after Romelu Lukaku’s exit as they are the Serie A table leaders and have lost only one league game this season.
Lukaku’s replacement Edin Dzeko is Inter’s best scorer so far. The Belgian striker caused controversy last month by admitting that he was sorry for the way he left Inter, hoping that he would return to the club one day.
Chelsea boss Tuchel had dropped him for the game against Liverpool and reintroduced the striker after his apology.
“There’s no one bigger than the club, that’s what it is all about,” said Rush.
“The club comes first and I thought it was an excellent decision by him [Tuchel] to drop him. Lukaku will come back stronger and better. Lukaku has learned his lesson.
“If there are individuals that think they are better than the team, that creates problems but I think the coaches nailed it, it was an excellent choice from him.”
Ex Juve, Rush avverte l'Inter sul Liverpool: 'E Lukaku…' VIDEO: L'ex attaccante gallese della Juventus, Ian Rush avverte l'Inter: "Il Liverpool può vincere. Lukaku? Ha imparato…"…. https://t.co/3NL5XlAOYj pic.twitter.com/PPqCyI3AI5
— sportlive (@sportli26181512) January 10, 2022
I suppose Inter‘s priority will be to win Serie A. I doubt they care that much about UCL.
Personally I think inter will progress after these 2 intense pleasurable games for all spectators.
Not underestimating Liverpool or discrediting them . This inter has something more than under Inzaghi.
This match up will be epic .
If Liverpool are at seventy percent over the two legs, they will go thru. We are talking about one team with not only rich European pedigree but lots of recent forays into latter stages. The other….. Well just about grateful to make the second round.
“Playing an Italian team is always difficult to score” lol
I see the old stereotypes are still strong in England. Scoring against Italian sides is remarkably easy nowadays, though Inter do have a few of the best CBs in the world now – which isn’t saying much given the standards today.
Inzaghi might pull something out of the hat, but Liverpool will be strong favs to go through if they play well.
I can see you inter beating Liverpool.
Inzaghi is a good manager, what he did with Lazio as underdogs proves it
I would not write off Inter just yet. They are the only Italian team that plays with high intensity, 15 goals have come from midfield and anyone on their team can score, look at the Lazio game. Liverpool is an entirely different level for them but the game has always been unpredictable.
I think Liverpool have been too arrogant to think Inter are just like Milan and will easily win the same way they did against Milan since Milan were top when they did so. First they need to understand not all of their KEY players will be 100% something that’s really hard to point out at Inter because they have more chemistry to play with any other team mate and produce a decent perfomance. That will be the big difference and they’ll be in for a surprise even if they will progress in the two legs it’ll be an entertaining match since Inter are no longer a defensive team in approaching big matches something that Conte was proudly doing and failing on that in the CL.
No Barella, but Inter can definitely still get past them.