Who knows how the story might have read if Dominik Szoboszlai had not calmly converted from the penalty spot? The chatter around Mohamed Salah would have only grown louder — more dropped points for Liverpool without their talisman.
Instead, Szoboszlai, Liverpool’s standout player this season, stepped up from 12 yards while the man who would normally have taken it remained at home, nearly 1,000 miles away. The players’ walk to the away end and the travelling fans singing Arne Slot’s name at the final whistle said plenty.
After a difficult few days, Slot and Liverpool finally had cause to smile. This marked their fourth win at the San Siro in four years and importantly their first Champions League away victory without Salah since 2009. Whether it is a real turning point remains to be seen, but the result felt significant — not least with chief executive Michael Edwards watching in Milan.
Earlier in the week goalkeeper Alisson Becker had said the squad stood behind the manager after arguably the toughest spell of Slot’s tenure. On the field, Liverpool responded with a composed performance following Slot’s tactical adjustments and, crucially, kept a clean sheet after the collapse at Leeds on Saturday.
Spirit and togetherness after a tumultuous 72 hours were striking. Liverpool travelled to Italy with a trimmed 19-man squad and still got the job done. “It doesn’t change anything. There’s obviously so much noise from the outside world, which is normal when you don’t perform,” Virgil van Dijk told Amazon Prime Sport. “It’s deserved as well. We want to improve, we want to be consistent and win games. We’re not doing it as much as we like. We have to stick together and be a unit as we have been. That’s what Liverpool stands for.”
Left-back Andy Robertson added: “We all needed it. We know the results and performances aren’t good enough. It’s important that this club is in the Champions League. It was a huge result for all of us.”
The challenge now is to build on this. After a dismal run — nine defeats in 12 — Liverpool are unbeaten in four and appear to have passed the hardest phase. Questions about Salah were inevitable; former Dutch midfielder Clarence Seedorf had suggested players can “make mistakes.” Slot replied: “Everyone makes mistakes in life but does the player know he’s made a mistake? Should the initiative come from him or me? That’s another question.”
Van Dijk avoided assigning blame. “There is no point me saying if someone has let someone down,” he said. “He didn’t travel based the consequences of what he said. That’s it. He trained yesterday perfectly normal. Let’s see when we come back on Friday and see what the situation will be like. My focus is on the team and at this point Mo is still part of the team. We will see what happens.”
But this night belonged to those who played, particularly Szoboszlai, who has been directly involved in more goals than any Liverpool player this season — 10 (five goals, five assists). “I have asked a lot of him,” Slot said. “I think what is also special is how much he runs — he is one of the few that played all four games in 10 days. It’s special what he is doing physically and also football wise, he stood up in a difficult moment. That was his first penalty for Liverpool during a game but he has a great shot and he delivered.”
Winning at the San Siro is no small feat; Inter had been unbeaten in their last 18 Champions League home ties. Slot emphasised the collective achievement: “It should be about what we’ve done over here. I fully understand that on Friday, in the press conference, all the questions will be about Mo. Tonight it should be all about a team, against a team like this who are winning at a stadium like this. The focus should be on that. Tonight it should be all about the players that are here. In the rich history Liverpool has had, they have had many of these evenings.”
If any proof was needed, the result showed that with or without Salah, Liverpool can move on.
