Mighty reward

In the last minute a remarkable shot by Steven Gerrard from the right-hand corner of the penalty area sliced through a throng and found the net at the far post. Kevin McCarra reports.

Liverpool are as much of a mystery as a menace to all rivals in the Champions League. With this victory they are on the verge of the quarterfinals of the tournament they most recently won in 2005, yet the visitors will wonder how goals from Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard in the last five minutes can ever have befallen them.

Internazionale must have been expecting to congratulate themselves on poised fortitude having spent an hour with 10 men after the expulsion, because of two yellow cards, of the former Everton player Marco Materazzi. For those hunting for logical explanations, it might be reasoned that the serious knee injury to the other centre-half Ivan Cordoba, with 16 minutes remaining, damaged the Serie A club fatally.

The Colombian will not recover in the three weeks before the return match, from which Materazzi is suspended. Inter’s underachievement in this tournament is set to linger, but they are not victims of fate alone. Indeed, Liverpool ought to have been awarded a penalty in the 60th minute when the former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira, during a hapless cameo as a substitute, blocked a ball from Gerrard with two raised hands.

But Rafael Benitez was at last to witness a mighty reward for his players’ endeavour. The watching England manager, Fabio Capello, had already left when, with five minutes to go, the substitute Jermaine Pennant crossed and Kuyt’s attempt deflected off Maicon to confound the goalkeeper, Julio Cesar.

In the last minute a remarkable shot by Gerrard from the right-hand corner of the penalty area sliced through a throng and found the net at the far post. There is no accounting for or, seemingly, neutralising Anfield’s capacity to astonish. It would not be wholly inexcusable if Inter settled instead for complaining that they have been wronged.

Their second defeat of the season in all competitions cannot be disconnected from the dismissal of Materazzi. His barge into Fernando Torres for a yellow card was the sort of offence that the referee, Frank de Bleeckere, did not punish with any consistency. Having been cautioned, the defender should have been professional enough not to tug at the same opponent’s jersey after half an hour.

Less has changed for the defender than might have been supposed since the period at Goodison nine seasons ago when he was sent off on three occasions. On the last of those misfortunes, against Coventry, he walked off, sat down by the advertising hoardings and began to weep.

Sorrow is now widespread in Inter ranks. Liverpool had a number of defects and Julio Cesar pulled off a single noteworthy save. Vieira knocked a pass against an onrushing player after 57 minutes and the ball ran through to Torres, whose low drive was tipped round the post.

Liverpool had aimed initially to cause uproar, despite Benitez’s reputation for not so much killing off the opposition as making them lose the will to live through sheer tedium. The fervour of the Premier League players had Inter so nervous for a spell that Cristian Chivu, as well as Materazzi, had been cautioned inside the opening 12 minutes.

This is not typical of Inter’s seasoned group. The Italian club, in their centenary year, are an august body en route to a third consecutive Serie A title. They were uncomfortable but still professional enough not merely to hold the match goalless at the interval but also to prevent Liverpool from coming close to scoring.

Thrill-seekers had to make do in that period with the routine tip over the crossbar with which Julio Cesar dealt with Sami Hyypia’s header from a Gerrard corner. Although Inter were usually denied access to Liverpool’s half of the field, they did not seem to feel confined. The most svelte piece of play in that period had been a turn by the right-back Maicon to move away with the ball after a drilled cross by Gerrard, following an unusually slick build-up, had gone beyond Kuyt.

The Anfield manager is never hasty. Even at home, a match in a goalless state does not appal him and that is all the more true when there is a second-leg to be taken into consideration. Benitez was patient and his opposite number blundered.

With 55 minutes gone, Roberto Mancini may have been guilty of inadvertent sabotage when he withdrew the forward Julio Cruz and introduced Vieira, who looked wholly lacking in match sharpness after recent injuries.

The character of the night was indubitably transformed, but not in the fashion the Inter manager desired.

THE RESULTS

February 20: Arsenal 0 drew with AC Milan 0; Celtic 2 (Vennegoor 16, Robson 38) lost to Barcelona 3 (Messi 18 & 79, Henry 52). Half-time: 2-1; Fenerbahce 3 (Kezman 17, Lugano 57, Senturk 87) bt Sevilla 2 (Edu Dracena o.g. 23, Escude 66). Half-time: 1-1; Lyon 1 (Benzema 54) drew with Manchester United 1 (Tevez 87). Half-time: 0-0.

February 19: Liverpool 2 (Kuyt 85, Gerrard 90) bt Inter Milan 0. Half-time: 0-0; Olympiakos 0 drew with Chelsea 0; Roma 2 (Pizarro 24, Mancini 58) bt Real Madrid 1 (Raul 8). Half-time: 1-1; Schalke-04 1 (Kuranyi 4) bt FC Porto 0. Half-time: 1-0.