Diego Milito praises Jurgen Klopp for 'spot on' decision for Liverpool v Inter

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been lauded by Inter Milan legend Diego Milito for one decision he made in Wednesday night’s game.

The Reds ran out 2-0 winners over the Nerazzurri on their own patch in their Champions League last-16 first leg.

Admittedly, Liverpool endured a difficult game against the Italian champions and were under the cosh in the second half.

Nonetheless, the Reds held firm and struck twice, through Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.

In the 75th minute, Firmino connected with Andrew Robertson’s corner to flick the ball into the far corner of the net.

And eight minutes later, Liverpool got their second.

Virgil van Dijk headed the ball down from a free-kick and Salah rifled home.

“Spot on”

It could be argued that the turning point for Liverpool was their triple substitution on the hour.

However, Milito feels that Firmino coming on for Diogo Jota at half-time changed the game for the Reds.

He told Amazon Prime Video, via FC Inter 1908: “Inter played a superb game.

“Especially in the first 30 minutes of the second half, they were much better than Liverpool.

“If you don’t take your chances, you can even end up losing, in my opinion.

“The choice to bring Firmino on in the 45th minute was spot on.”

Milito then banged the proverbial drum ahead of the second leg on 8 march.

“Inter can hurt Liverpool in England,” he said. “It’ll be tough, but Inter have the means to do it.”

Admittedly, Klopp’s decision to bring on Firmino wasn’t merely tactical.

Diogo Jota had to go off with “something around the ankle ligament”, according to the Liverpool boss.

“He could have played on, maybe that’s a good sign,” Klopp said at his post-match press conference.

“But at half-time, the ankle was swollen anyway so we knew we had to change.”