No Mo worries as Reds snatch vital win

Even from the penalty spot, Liverpool managed just fine without Mohamed Salah.

With regular penalty taker Salah out of the squad following his public criticism of the club last week, Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up instead to score the 88th-minute penalty which earned a 1-0 win over one of the Champions League's best-performing teams, while Chelsea slipped to defeat against Atalanta and Barcelona overcame Eintracht Frankfurt.

It was all the more valuable for coming after a run of one win in six games in all competitions for Arne Slot's under-pressure team, which moved up to eighth and is now back in contention for a direct spot in the round of 16. Inter dropped to fifth.

Liverpool snapped Inter's 18-game unbeaten home run in Europe, despite the absence of Salah, who was left out of the squad after his extraordinary public criticism of manager Slot.

Liverpool fans loudly chanted Slot's name at the end of a largely drab match that was decided by referee Felix Zwayer's decision to give the English champion a perfect chance to snatch the points, which Szoboszlai duly took.

"The penalty did look soft, but that's given anywhere else on the pitch," Andy Robertson told Amazon Prime.

"We all needed it. We know the results and performances aren't good enough. It's important this club is in the Champions League. It was a huge result for all of us."

Inter's players were enraged at the awarding of the penalty — given for a light shirt tug by Alessandro Bastoni on Florian Wirtz — but it gave Slot a happy end to a troubled few days.

The closest either team came to scoring before then was when Ibrahima Konate had his closerange header in the 37th minute ruled out for a Hugo Ekitike handball following a lengthy VAR check.

"We are disappointed, angry — a bit of everything," Inter midfielder Piotr Zielinski told Italy's Sky Sport.

"It was a good performance, we lacked a little something in the final third to put it into the net, but the refereeing decisions ... If they give penalties for this, then everything will be a penalty."

Tuesday's win puts Liverpool on 12 points from six games and inside the top eight positions, which offer direct qualification for the last 16, ahead of Wednesday's fixtures.

Inter, meanwhile, is fifth on the same tally, but has now lost its last two European fixtures and created nearly nothing against an injury-hit Liverpool who was missing not just rebel star Salah, but also unfit Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo.