Liverpool are just one win away from entering the Champions League knockout phase with a 100% record in the tournament this season.
Arne Slot has won each of his first seven European games in charge of the Reds, including an emphatic dismantling of German double winners Bayer Leverkusen and a deserved slaying of holders Real Madrid.
Many pundits and bookmakers have made the Merseysiders favourites to lift the trophy in May, with Joe Cole pointing to the ‘unique’ squad depth at his former club’s disposal.
However, another ex-Chelsea winger reckons that it’ll be a different team celebrating at the Allianz Arena in Munich in four months’ time, one that he thinks even LFC will be desperate to avoid.
Burley tipping Inter over Liverpool for Champions League glory
Speaking on ESPN FC, Craig Burley reiterated his previous prediction that Inter Milan will win this season’s Champions League, steadfast in his belief that they are massively strong in every area of the pitch.
The 53-year-old said: “I just got a feeling this year. Inter are going to win Serie A…They can do every side of the game. They’re good going forward, solid in the middle of the park, and they can defend for their life when they need to.
“When we used to talk about you don’t want to play at [Atletico Madrid], I think you don’t want to play Inter these days because I think they’re stronger.
“Liverpool are the best team at the moment, and they’re also defensively good. They’ve only given up two goals in this competition out of seven games, but I’ve just got a feeling with this Inter side that they are the team none of the others want to play against. They’re difficult to play against and they’re a threat going forward, so I’m sticking with Inter.”
Are Inter a genuine threat to Liverpool in this season’s Champions League?
Liverpool got the better of Inter in the round of 16 on their journey to the Champions League final three years ago, but what of the Nerazzurri’s chances in the competition this time around?
Burley is right to point to their formidable defensive record (just one goal conceded in seven European games), but they sit fourth in the current standings despite scoring a meagre eight goals.
For comparison, the already eliminated Red Star Belgrade have scored 12 times in the competition, and ironically 50% of Inter’s goal haul came aganst the Serbian outfit, with their four other victories each by a 1-0 scoreline.
That miserly defence and ability to come out on the right side of tight games means that Simone Inzaghi’s side – who were narrowly beaten in the final by Manchester City two years ago – must be taken seriously.
If they maintain their current position of fourth by the end of the league phase next week, Liverpool wouldn’t be able to meet them until the quarter-finals, a tie which’d see the Reds travel to the San Siro for the second time this season after our 3-1 win away to AC Milan in September.
Inter would definitely be very difficult opponents for Slot’s side if the two sides were to encounter each other in the knockout rounds, but just as Burley said that nobody would want to face the Nerazzurri, we can’t imagine too many teams being eager to come up against LFC in the Champions League either!
