Liverpool beat Inter Milan 1–0 at San Siro in the Champions League and finally found the breath, direction and competitive spark the team had been searching for weeks. After 15 matches with nine losses, internal turbulence and Mohamed Salah being sidelined, the club needed a performance that showed signs of life.
And they got it. The penalty converted by Szoboszlai in the final minutes wasn’t just the winning goal, it was the moment that kept Liverpool in the tournament and kept their season from slipping any further.
A fresh mark gave Liverpool room to breathe
The match opened with the feel of a major occasion, and tension never really left the field. Inter lost Çalhanoglu early, Lautaro Martinez kept causing problems and Liverpool took a while to find their rhythm. Once they did, they were the better side. Sommer stopped shots from Curtis Jones and Gravenberch, Ekitiké bothered Acerbi and nearly scored, and Konaté actually did put the ball in the net, only for VAR to overturn it because of a handball by Ekitiké earlier in the play.
Inter responded in a way that usually works for them at San Siro. Lautaro forced Alisson into a sharp reaction with a powerful header. Barella tried from distance, Isak tested the goal early in the second half, but none of it brought Inter real control.
The decisive moment came when Wirtz was pulled by Bastoni inside the box. The referee went to VAR, reviewed the play and pointed to the spot. Szoboszlai buried the penalty with confidence and earned a place in the club’s record book, as the goal came at 87 minutes and 24 seconds — the latest winning goal Liverpool have ever scored away from home in the Champions League.
Arne Slot’s words explain everything
Slot didn’t try to hide how heavy the match felt, and at the same time made clear that the team has been suffering more than anyone would like. He described the players’ response by saying he got “everything I could ask for”, highlighting that this was “the fourth game in 10 days”, with only 13 outfield players available who had experience at Premier League or Champions League level. When talking about the team’s inconsistency this season, he was blunt in saying refereeing decisions “could have gone differently” and that this has been “the story of our season”.
He also didn’t run from the symbolic side of the moment. He said he preferred scoring “the 1–0 at 86 minutes rather than at 38”, because it showed the team stayed focused until the end. And when asked about the impact of the win, he was cautious but firm, saying the result was very important, especially with an away match against Olympique de Marseille and then a home match coming next.
The win at San Siro shifts a lot inside the club. Inter hadn’t lost at home in the Champions League since 2022, and Liverpool had been slipping at every turn. Between a team that resisted and another that was trying to come back to life, the victory went to the one that had the courage to keep pushing until the last minute.