Liverpool’s Champions League Win Built On Discipline Not Domination
A tactical masterclass in managing space, suffering well and striking when it mattered
Analysing the European Temperament: Why Liverpool’s Win Against Inter Milan Was a Tactical Masterclass
European away nights tell you who you are as a team. They test shape, emotional control and the ability to hold a plan together when the atmosphere grows heavy. Liverpool walked into San Siro with a bench that looked thin in terms of Champions League experience, yet walked out with a one goal win, a clean sheet and something more intangible. There was a sense that this group has begun to understand what Arne Slot wants European Liverpool to be.
As a Liverpool supporter, this did not feel like smash and grab. It felt measured. Liverpool were compact, disciplined and surprisingly calm against one of the most structured sides in Europe.
Structure Over Chaos In Liverpool’s Game Plan
The overall numbers frame the story very clearly. Possession is balanced at 50/50, yet Liverpool finish with the higher expected goals figure and more shots. For a side playing away to an Inter Milan team that usually controls territory in Serie A, that is a serious return.
The shape was the first clue. Slot set Liverpool up in what is best described as a four one three two. Ryan Gravenberch operated as the single pivot behind three narrow midfielders, with Curtis Jones, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai locking on tightly to their opposite numbers. Ahead of them, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak split the Inter back three and occupied the centre backs.
That narrowness was deliberate. Inter like to progress through the middle before releasing their wing backs into space. Liverpool cut off the first part of that pattern. Gravenberch sat between the lines as a screener, ready to take over when Lautaro Martinez dropped short. When he did, Virgil van Dijk or Ibrahima Konate could pass him on to Gravenberch and hold their positions.