UEFA TO HOST A GAME ON THE MOON… AND 14 MORE THINGS WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE
LIVERPOOL TO GET THEIR INZAGHI REVENGE
An Inzaghi has already shattered Liverpool hearts in the Champions League once. In 2007, Pippo scored twice to sink Rafa Benitez’s Reds, who couldn’t produce a second dramatic rise from the ashes as Milan chalked up another podium trip for Ol’ Big Ears.
This year, though, it’s Liverpool who are looking to match Milan’s magnificent seven: and though Superpippo is bossing Brescia in Serie B now, it’s his little bro Simone at Inter who stands between Jurgen Klopp’s men and European glory. Picking up from where his predecessor Antonio Conte left off, the former Lazio striker had guided his Nerazzurri side to top spot by mid-December, inspired by the goals of deadly double act Lautaro Martinez and Edin Dzeko. These days, this is the Inzaghi to fear.
Liverpool breezed through their so-called Group of Death with six wins out of six, becoming the first English club to do so – now they’re targeting European glory with a 100 per cent record. Only Bayern Munich have done that in the modern era, albeit with single-leg fixtures in the quarters and semi-finals of 2020.
Likewise, Mohamed Salah is looking to make individual history. Anfield’s Egyptian King has enjoyed a storming season so far, and after finishing seventh in the Ballon d’Or for 2021, the 29-year-old will be hunting a second Champions League medal that would go a long way to him becoming the first African player to scoop the gong since Liberia’s George Weah in 1995.
The Kop’s back roaring and Salah is free-scoring: Inter know they’ve got their work cut out this time around, but the Nerazzurri are putting in an impressive defence of their title with the pragmatic principles that Conte laid down. Martinez is their star, freed from being Romelu Lukaku’s sidekick, and Hakan Calhanoglu has been a revelation at No.10 since making his sordid switch across the city.
Liverpool have fallen twice in a row to defensively resilient outfits when they were clear favourites – they’d do well not to underestimate another.
