Champions League: Liverpool, Bayern go through

Just a night after the first anniversary of Liverpool’s last defeat at Anfield, the Merseyside outfit lost to Inter Milan in front of a sea of Red in the stands.

Inter, who finished the match with a one-man deficit, secured a deserving 1-0 win at Liverpool’s fortress, but a 2-0 loss in the reverse fixture denied them a spot in the quarterfinals.

The visitors took the lead in the 61st minute when Alexis Sanchez fed the ball to Lautaro Martinez, whose right-foot shot had enough power behind it to take it beyond Alisson Becker’s stretching hand and into the Liverpool net.

Only two minutes after the goal, Sanchez received his second booking of the match for his challenge on Fabinho.

Inter aggressive from start

Inter Milan started the match dominantly with their packed midfield and consistent press.

Ivan Perisic and Denzel Dumfries neutralised Liverpool’s attacking threat on wider areas for the most of first half.

The hosts did spring to life in the latter stages of the first half and carried on their momentum in the second half. But, it was Inter who found the net from a swift counter-attack.

After going a player down, Inter could not trouble the Liverpool defence, and in the final 10 minutes, a Liverpool equaliser seemed imminent.

The Nerazzurri did well to hold on to their lead till the final whistle, but it wasn’t enough for their survival in the competition.

The win, however, should inspire Inter in their mission to retain the Scudetto.

Bayern hammer Salzburg

In stark contrast to the first-leg meeting between the two sides, Bayern Munich hammered RB Salzburg 7-1 in a one-sided affair at the Allianz Arena, winning the tie 8-2 in aggregate.

The Bavarians had to wait till the dying seconds to score a goal and snatch a draw in the reverse fixture.

But this time around, Bayern found them 4-0 up just by the half-hour mark.

Robert Lewandowski bagged a hat-trick in a frenzy 11-minute spell to give Bayern a three-goal cushion by 23 minutes.

Eight minutes later, Serge Gnabry added a fourth for the hosts.

The goals kept flooding in after the interval, with Thomas Muller striking twice before Leroy Sane scored the night’s final goal.

This is the second-highest number of goals Bayern Munich have scored in a Champions League knock-out stage tie.

Their highest single match goal tally came against Barcelona in their historic 8-2 UCL quarterfinal win in September 2020.