Liverpool beat Inter Milan at the San Siro in the Champions League

Liverpool scored a late penalty to beat Inter Milan away at the San Siro in the Champions League as Mohamed Salah is left out of the squad.

With their regular penalty-taker left at home after his extraordinary outburst against head coach Arne Slot and the club after Saturday’s draw at Leeds it was left to Dominik Szoboszlai to step up and convert an 88th-minute spot-kick.

That may point to the future in one aspect but the manner of the victory, which moved Liverpool back into the top eight with an improved chance of avoiding the play-offs, offered the first signs of resilience of an otherwise brittle season.

Current form meant Salah’s presence in Italy may not have been the essential ingredient it had so often been but this represented progress against a team which had won seven of their last nine and was on an 18-match unbeaten home run in Europe.

The forward, who posted a picture of himself in an empty gym back at their AXA training complex earlier in the day, had paid the price for saying his relationship with Slot had broken down and he felt someone at the club was trying to force him out.

But with Cody Gakpo injured and Federico Chiesa ill it left Slot with just two senior forwards and he started both.

Yet despite costing a combined £200million Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike posed little threat with the ball and could do nothing to prevent one of Inter’s back three carrying the ball out significant distances.

When Ekitike raced on to Ibrahima Konate’s through-ball in a position usually assumed by Salah the France striker favoured his right foot, when the Egyptian would cut in on his left, and narrowed the angle so much Yann Sommer batted his shot behind easily.

The front two have rarely had the chance to play together so far this season and there was a lack of understanding between each other and their team-mates, like when Alexis Mac Allister slid a pass down the outside of Manuel Akanji only for Isak to continue his run down the inside.

Shorn of Salah, with 46 Champions League goals for the club, the next highest scorer was Virgil van Dijk with just five but Curtis Jones, who was influential on the left-hand side of a midfield diamond, and Ryan Gravenberch both tested Inter goalkeeper Sommer.

Konate was at the scene of another “crime”, as Slot had euphemistically described his numerous errors this season, but this time in the opposition area.

He nodded in from close range but the ball had come off Ekitike’s upper arm, although it took four minutes for VAR and referee Felix Zwayer to disallow the goal.

The hosts came on strong at the end of the half with Nicolo Barella whipping a free-kick just wide and Alisson Becker saving well from Lautaro Martinez’s header.

Both strikers upped their work-rate for the second half as it became apparent the tide had turned before Isak eventually made way for fellow £100m man Florian Wirtz.

And when he lured Alessandro Bastoni into tugging his shirt in the penalty area, the Germany international changed the game and the narrative with fans singing Slot’s name at the final whistle.

Read how Slot has reacted to the current situation at LFC here.

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