Inter Milan have been handed a major boost ahead of their game with Liverpool after Mohamed Salah was left at home for Champions League clash on Tuesday.
Liverpool confirmed their travelling squad for their trip to the San Siro and Salah’s name was absent from the 19-man list on Monday.
It comes after the Egyptian’s explosive accusations against the club after their 3-3 draw with Leeds, claiming Liverpool had ‘thrown him under a bus’ after benching him and shockingly revealed he no longer had a relationship with manager Arne Slot.
No Mohamed Salah against Inter Milan on Tuesday
While Liverpool’s domestic crisis hasn’t translated to the continent as badly as the Premier League, Arne Slot’s side still find themselves sitting outside of the automatic Round of 16 qualification positions.
Liverpool are in a catastrophic state of affairs on and off the pitch, with the latest episode of their predicament being aired on Saturday and repeated on Monday.
The shocking revelation came on Monday afternoon as Liverpool omitted Salah from their travelling Champions League squad for Tuesday’s game in Italy, only hours after being spotted in training with his team-mates.
After being named on the substitutes’ bench for a third successive match, Salah openly criticised manager Slot to a handful of journalists.
Going on to say that their relationship in and out of the dressing room had completely broken down with Slot, he accused the Dutchman of ‘throwing him under the bus’. Salah was unhappy at being benched against West Ham saw him express his true feelings immediately after the 3-3 draw with Leeds United.
Despite Salah coming nowhere close to replicating last season’s form, which saw an unparalleled 47 goal contributions (G29, A18) in 38 Premier League appearances, he is still very much needed by Liverpool.
Only time will tell if Salah will ever play for Liverpool again upon returning from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, where he will captain Egypt. Should this be his last game for the club, Liverpool will have already begun lining up plenty of candidates to replace Salah.
If Liverpool are without Salah, Inter manager Cristian Chivu will still have to deal with a formidable visiting attacking threat, despite the ongoing crisis within the Reds’ dressing room.
Florian Wirtz, who hasn’t scored or assisted in the Premier League this season, has produced seven goal contributions (G6, A1) in nine matches in last season’s Champions League campaign and will remain a huge threat against Inter.
Can Virgil van Dijk replicate his Real Madrid performance
Domestically, world-class centre-back van Dijk (VVD) has looked vulnerable at times. However, in Europe, he has looked like a different player. No less having Kylian Mbappé, the current top-scorer in this season’s competition (9), in his back pocket when Liverpool beat Madrid 1-0 in gameweek four.
Put it into perspective, in five Champions League phase matches, VVD and Co have let in eight goals, compared to 24 in 14 Premier League games. On Tuesday, he will need to replicate that eye-catching achievement by keeping tabs on Inter’s star striker, Lautaro Martínez, who has scored four goals in the 2025/26 Champions League phase.
Something more significant than arguably the saga surrounding Salah and VVD vs. Martínez is that Inter haven’t lost any of their previous 18 home encounters across the Champions League, W15, D3.
Coupling that with the ominous statistic, the Nerazzurri have triumphed over Premier League teams in four of their previous five matches across the first stage of the Champions League campaign.
Predicted Starting XI’s at the San Siro
Inter Milan: Sommer; Akanji, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dimarco, Barella, Çalhanoğlu, Zieliński, Henrique; Martínez, Thuram
Liverpool: Alisson; Bradley, van Dijk, Gomez, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike
One of the most anticipated heavyweight encounters across gameweek six will see two of the most notable names in European football take to the ring at the San Siro Stadium.
After being embarrassed by defending champions Paris Saint-Germain in last season’s final, in which the Nerazzurri were comprehensively swept aside, 5-0, things have been different this year. The advantage is certainly on Chivu’s side of the pitch, as they sit in fourth position in the league phase standings with 12 points from five matches.
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