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Liverpool vs Inter news: Reds can complete Italian job and book last-eight slot

The in-form Merseysiders won the first leg 2-0 in the San Siro and look all set to continue their bid for Champions League glory by keeping the visitors at bay in the return.

Since playing Inter in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie, Liverpool have won the Carabao Cup, kept up their pursuit of Manchester City in the Premier League and booked a place in the last eight of the FA Cup.

After winning that opening tie 2-0 thanks to goals from Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah, the Reds are now huge favourites to complete the job back at Anfield.

Jurgen Klopp's men won home and away against AC Milan in the group stage and victory on Tuesday night would make it an incredible eight wins out of eight in this season's Champions League.

When: Tuesday, March 8, 20:00 GMT

Where: Anfield

How to watch: BT Sport 2

Follow this game via our score centre

Who is the ref for Liverpool vs Inter

Antonio Matheu Lahoz takes charge of the Anfield clash.
The Spanish official has refereed four previous Liverpool matches, the latest a 2-0 home win over Porto in 2019 when he didn't book a single Reds player.

Season stats 2021/22: All games (23), yellows (79), red (1), penalties (5)

Recent form

Liverpool keep racking up the victories and the 1-0 success over West Ham at the weekend was the 12th straight game they'd left the pitch as winners.
You need to go back to their 2-2 draw at Chelsea over two months ago to find the last time they dropped points in the Premier League and, of course, continued success in the cups has kept them on course for a quadruple.

They perhaps haven't been scoring goals with the same frequency as previously but six clean sheets in their last eight matches has helped keep the winning feeling going.

After playing pretty well but losing the first leg 2-0, Inter suffered a domestic blip.

They lost 2-0 at home to Sassuolo and then were held to 0-0 draws against Genoa and city neighbours AC Milan, that latter game in the Coppa Italia.

They ended a run of four games without a goal by thrashing bottom club Salernitana 5-0 at the weekend and remain one point clear at the top of Serie A.

Liverpool players in form

Sadio Mane is Liverpool's hottest striker right now after netting four goals in his last three Premier League games.

The latest was the winner against West Ham on Saturday and all four strikes came at Anfield.

That burst has lifted him to joint-second in the Premier League goalscoring charts with 12 goals, although that's seven behind Salah, who has drawn blanks in the last two games after four in three prior to that.

Virgil van Dijk continues to show his best form of the season and the Reds have conceded just once in his last six games.

For Inter, those five goals against Salernitana were shared between just two players.

Lautaro Martinez bagged a hat-trick, while Edin Dzeko added a second-half brace.

Last three meetings

Inter 0-2 Liverpool (Champions League last 16 first leg - February 16, 2022)

Liverpool took control of the last 16 first-leg clash with two goals in the final 15 minutes.

Roberto Firmino's angled header from an Andy Robertson corner broke the deadlock after 75 and Salah pounced on a loose ball in the box to add a second eight minutes later.

Hakan Calhanoglu struck the bar in the first half and Inter had other good moments but Liverpool held firm to put one foot in the quarter-finals.

Inter 0-1 Liverpool (Champions League last 16 second leg - March 11, 2008)

Liverpool also played Inter at the same stage of this competition 14 years ago.

Already 2-0 up from the first leg, they put the tie out of sight when Fernando Torres turned sharply and fired the winner after 64 minutes.

Inter had Nicolas Burdisso sent off after 50 minutes and wasted several good opportunities but the Reds always had the tie under control.

Liverpool 2-0 Inter (Champions League last 16 first leg - February 19, 2011)

Inter looked to be doing a job on Liverpool as this first leg moved into the final five minutes with the score still 0-0.
But in a dramatic finale, Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard both struck to tilt the tie firmly in Liverpool's favour.
Inter's job was made harder when Marco Materazzi was sent off after 30 minutes but they coped well until Liverpool's late surge.

Past meetings

Liverpool wins: 4

Draws: 0

Inter wins: 1

Liverpool scored: 8

Inter scored: 4

Managers' thoughts

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is taking nothing for granted against the Serie A champions: "They don't come here as tourists, I know that they want to chase the game - that's what we want to do because we are not a team who defends results.
"We want to attack the game again and let's see what we can get from it."

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi believes his side's 5-0 thrashing of Salernitana on Friday will be just the confidence-booster they need: “We have had to use up lots of physical and especially mental energy in recent games, but these kind of games serve as motivation and allow you to have the best possible approach.

“The 5-0 win didn’t end any crisis as there wasn’t one in the first place. We are a solid squad and there are no problems internally and that’s what counts. We have always been confident in ourselves and the 5-0 win shows we have quality.”

Predicted Liverpool vs Inter teams

Klopp continues to shuffle his pack with great success and Tuesday could see a return for Diogo Jota after he played just the final 11 minutes against West Ham.

James Milner and Curtis Jones were even later substitutes in that game and could be drafted into Klopp's starting XI.
Ibrahima Konate may continue as Virgil van Dijk's partner in central defence, with doubts still over Joel Matip.

Possible Liverpool starting line-up: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Milner, Jones, Salah, Jota, Diaz.

For Inter, Nicolo Barella is still suspended so Arturo Vidal could step in.

Possible Inter line-up: Handanovic, Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni, Dumfries, Brozovic, Vidal, Calhanoglu, Gosens, Martinez, Dzeko.

Liverpool vs Inter prediction

These games when the hard work looks 90% done can be difficult and Liverpool have lost in similar situations.
But despite their busy schedule, this is Liverpool's fifth home game in the last six so their trip to Wembley for the Carabao Cup final is the only time they've travelled since the first leg in the San Siro.
It could be cat-and-mouse for a while but take the Reds to have too much power once more.

READ MORE: Liverpool news: Jurgen Klopp jumps to defend Trent Alexander-Arnold over criticism

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