Rio Ferdinand has stated that Liverpool trio Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Fabinho were ‘immense’ for Liverpool during their 2-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday night, as he told BT Sport.
The former defender made it clear that the scoreline ‘flatters’ Liverpool, but it was their defence that ensured they got the job done.
Going into the historic back garden of San Siro and facing off against the Italian champions is no easy feat.
That was the case last night because Simone Inzaghi’s side matched the Reds’ intensity, they were aggressive without the ball and they didn’t let them settle or control the match.
Jurgen Klopp needed to make three changes at the hour mark – Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita and Luis Diaz – for the game to swing towards their direction.
Whilst Liverpool’s attack had a bit of an off-evening, one thing that remained was their defence and Ferdinand made that clear.
“I think 2-0 probably flatters them,” said Ferdinand. “But the bedrock of most performances away from home in this stage of the Champions League is a good defence and today that was true for Liverpool.
“The two centre-backs were immense, Fabinho too. You have to weather storms in games.
“They had long spells where they were under the cosh but they have that experience to navigate through games and wait for the opportunities that they got.”
The only downside to Liverpool’s trip back home from Italy was the injury to Diogo Jota.
The Portugal international, who has perhaps been Liverpool’s most in-form player of late, went off with an ankle problem at half-time.
Whilst his replacement, Roberto Firmino, scored the opening goal and produced a strong display, Jota will still be a big miss.
But, if Klopp’s side could do without Sadio Mane and Mo Salah for a number of weeks when they were on Africa Cup of Nations duty, then being without Jota shouldn’t be much of a bother.
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