The Reds arrived in Milan without Mohamed Salah, who was omitted from the squad following his explosive post-match comments after Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Leeds.

Despite the off-field distraction, the visitors started brightly. Curtis Jones tested Yann Sommer early, while Ibrahima Konate thought he had scored on the half-hour, only for VAR to disallow the goal after spotting a handball by Hugo Ekitike in the build-up from Virgil van Dijk’s knockdown.

Inter responded and should have led before the break. Lautaro Martinez’s fierce header forced a sharp save from Alisson and teams went down the tunnel goalless.

The second half became a cagey affair, chances scarce as both defences dominated. Ekitike tried his luck from range but never troubled Sommer, and substitute Conor Bradley wasted Liverpool’s best opening on 80 minutes, shooting straight at the Swiss stopper from close range.

With the game drifting towards a goalless draw, controversy struck in stoppage time. Referee Danny Makkelie awarded Liverpool a penalty after Alessandro Bastoni was judged to have pulled Florian Wirtz’s shirt. Szoboszlai stepped up and emphatically smashed the spot-kick past Sommer to clinch a 1-0 victory.

The dramatic late win lifts Liverpool to eighth in the Champions League table, level on points with fifth-placed Inter, who have now lost back-to-back matches in the competition.

“It was all I could ask for,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot told the press afterwards.

“The fourth game in ten days, I’m not sure you see that a lot in football, with only 14 outfield players available with Premier League or Champions League experience, after the blow we had conceding the 3-3 in Leeds, then to go into this stadium against such a strong Inter team – we couldn’t have asked for more.

“We hardly gave away a chance. The first one came just before half-time after we had to accept a referee’s decision [to disallow an Ibrahima Konate goal] that could have gone any way, but that’s been the story of our season.

“We showed a great mentality. We were close to scoring with Conor Bradley and Hugo Ekitike, then we get a penalty that if that was a penalty we would have had 10 this season.”