*Barca Overcome Frankfurt From Behind
By Nick Ames, at Stadio de Bergamo, & Andy Hunter, at San Siro
There were no answers to Chelsea’s search for consistency here. Instead there was a late, potentially damaging defeat that leaves them staring down the barrel of a February playoff for the last 16, along with further suggestions they lack what it takes to face down a tough away assignment at this level.
Enzo Maresca’s side looked well set when João Pedro scored against the run of play after 25 minutes.
Atalanta had begun to flounder before Gianluca Scamacca’s leveller but grew in strength and Chelsea sank when Charles De Ketelaere drove in seven minutes from time, completing a torrid week on the road.
If it had been tricky to gauge which version of Chelsea would turn up, the same could be said of their hosts. Held up by Maresca before the match as a glowing beacon amid the faltering fortunes of Italy’s major powers, they have fallen to mid-table in Serie A this season while prospering in Europe.
Their former manager Gian Piero Gasperini, now with Roma, forged miracles here; in appointing one of his proteges, Raffaele Palladino, to replace the hapless Ivan Juric last month the hope locally was that the old magic could be recaptured.
They may have sensed blood in the water given Maresca characteristically rolled the dice, making five changes from the goalless trudge at Bournemouth.
Cole Palmer, freshly back, was kept at home to avoid overexertion; Josh Acheampong was granted a first Champions League start at right-back in a reshuffled defence; and João Pedro led the line in the absence of Liam Delap, whose shoulder injury will sideline him for around a month.
Atalanta Starts Well
Atalanta duly made the more coherent start. It almost brought a goal within six minutes when Ademola Lookman, still starring here despite seeking to leave in the summer, wriggled inside from the left and forced Robert Sánchez to block an angled effort with his legs. De Ketelaere, following up, could not quite adjust his legs in time to bury the rebound.
Jamie Gittens, entering the Atalanta box after collecting a well-weighted diagonal pass from Acheampong, tumbled under the attention of Raoul Bellanova but any appeals for a penalty were half-hearted.
Bellanova, the right wing-back, was next involved at the other end but appeared to pick up an injury in the act of crossing. He was replaced by Davide Zappacosta, a blast from Chelsea’s late-2010s past.
Almost immediately Zappacosta centred and, via a Scamacca flick, Lookman was denied at point-blank range by Acheampong’s block. Marten de Roon lifted the loose ball over and, despite a string of stoppages in the opening quarter breaking Atalanta’s rhythm, Chelsea were living dangerously.
When they did string a move together, they made it count. The flag was initially raised when João Pedro neatly snicked in a low cross from Reece James, who had been sent to the left byline in a short-corner routine.
But replays immediately made clear that the decision would not survive a video assistant referee (VAR) check and, within a minute, their lead was confirmed. It was the Brazilian’s first goal since 8 November, also breaking his duck in this competition.
Chelsea Tighten Up
Now Chelsea could settle. Atalanta were not given another serious sniff before half-time, finding their opponents a more controlled proposition on the ball and falling foul of a well-functioning offside trap more than once. By the interval, those early insecurities appeared long distant.
Maresca replaced Trevoh Chalobah with Wesley Fofana for the second half, having spent the latter stages of the first giving instructions to the substitute.
This time Chelsea came out sharper, Enzo Fernández almost being sent through by a smart Gittens pass and James drilling inches wide at the second attempt from 18 yards.
Then Gittens warmed Marco Carnesecchi’s palms after cutting inside and, at that point, the game’s second goal seemed eminently possible.
Atalanta Equalize
It came soon enough, but to Atalanta’s credit. The execution was maddeningly simple from a Chelsea viewpoint, De Ketelaere delivering from the right with little opposition and the hulking Scamacca somehow escaping the centre-backs to nod past a helpless Sánchez.
The sequence was hardly of a piece with Chelsea’s diligence since going ahead.
With that, the tone transformed. Scamacca headed on a whipped left-sided cross and Sánchez was forced to scoop away with other attackers lurking.
A previously becalmed arena bayed for another scalp to join the collection Atalanta have amassed in becoming a European force.
Another defensive change from Chelsea, Fofana’s involvement ending in the 76th minute having earlier been caught accidentally on the head by Scamacca, may have encouraged them further. De Ketelaere, the game’s best player, quickly took the hint.
He had recently pinged a glorious left-footed pass to Lookman; now he drove forward from midway inside Chelsea’s half and, with Marc Cucurella and Benoît Badiashile inexplicably backing off, drilled in via a deflection off the Spaniard. Home comforts cannot come quickly enough for Maresca.
Szoboszlai Steps Up In Place Of Salah
In a related development, Liverpool fans sang the praises of under-fire coach Arne Slot following the side’s unlikely 0-1 win away to last year’s Champions League finalists, Inter Milan, at their difficult San Siro.
First the Liverpool hierarchy protected Slot’s authority by axing Mohamed Salah from a daunting Champions League assignment in Milan.
The Liverpool team then followed suit by inflicting Inter’s first European home defeat since September 2022. A brooding superstar with a bruised ego watched from afar while Liverpool fans serenaded Slot at San Siro.
Salah might well have taken the decisive 88th-minute penalty had he not talked himself out of the trip to San Siro, another legend of the game that is showing its age.
Instead it fell to Dominik Szoboszlai, the friend Salah had in effect argued should not be playing on the right ahead of him, to deliver a precious victory for Slot after Alessandro Bastoni had been penalised for pulling Florian Wirtz’s shirt in the box.
It was a soft penalty and a hard slog of a game. Liverpool, and especially their head coach, will not care a jot after the trials of the past few days. Slot needed at the bare minimum a committed display from his team to counter allegations that Salah’s criticisms are shared by others in the dressing room. He got commitment and much more.
The visitors produced a vastly improved defensive performance and worked tirelessly to stifle a dangerous Inter team that have reached two of the past three Champions League finals.
A deserved point appeared to be Liverpool’s reward until the VAR sent the German official Felix Zwayer to the pitchside monitor to review Bastoni’s infringement. Szoboszlai swept his spot‑kick high into Yann Sommer’s top corner and Inter’s 18-match unbeaten home run in Europe was over. The release for Liverpool was palpable.
Salah May Have Goofed Big-Time
Salah had given Liverpool no option but to leave him out of the trip to Italy. Slot’s authority over the rest of the squad would have been seriously undermined had he travelled. The timing of the interview at Elland Road was bad enough with Slot, Salah and his teammates all struggling – and supposedly sticking together in adversity – but made worse by the limited options available to Liverpool in Milan.
Slot was unable to fill his bench with Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo also absent. Without the source of 46 Champions League goals for Liverpool the team’s highest goalscorer in the competition on the night was Virgil van Dijk, with five.
Liverpool’s Incomplete Squad
Liverpool’s bench may have been threadbare but Slot was able to field a £204m frontline partnership in Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitiké.
The summer signings started in front of a midfield diamond in which Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister all had freedom to rotate. The result was better protection for the Liverpool defence and confusion in the Inter ranks as they took around 40 minutes to work out how to counter the visitors’ altered approach.
The first notable act of the night, given the circumstances, was the sound of Slot’s name being chanted by the sizeable Liverpool support high up with the gods. Salah’s song did not get an airing all night.
Inter’s On-field Misfortune
Inter’s uncertain start was not helped by losing the midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu to injury after 11 minutes. The central defender Francesco Acerbi followed him to the treatment room with an apparent hamstring problem 20 minutes later. The captain, Lautaro Martínez, also collected an early booking for a ridiculously late foul on Andy Robertson.
Liverpool were controlled, measured and exploiting space around Inter’s three-man central defence. Sommer saved from Jones and Ekitiké in the first half, the latter leading to a corner from Szoboszlai that almost gave Liverpool a merited lead.
Ibrahima Konaté headed home from close range after Ekitiké had flicked on. A first look at a replay showed the ball looping off Ekitiké’s arm yet it took almost four minutes for the match officials to disallow the goal. Zwayer ruled that, although the ball may have been headed on to Ekitiké by Van Dijk, the striker’s arm was in an unnatural position.
Inter Fight Back
Almost inevitably, Inter improved and Martínez drew a fine save from Alisson with a bullet header from Bastoni’s cross. Cristian Chivu’s team were more composed after the restart but the contest remained evenly matched and, in truth, fairly uneventful.
Bastoni swiped clear in front of his own goal after a flowing Liverpool move involving Ryan Gravenberch and Isak teed up Robertson for a dangerous cross from the left.
When Nicolò Barella found Martínez in space 20 yards from the Liverpool goal, Van Dijk made an important block to deny the Argentina international.
Slot introduced Wirtz for the quiet Isak and Conor Bradley for Joe Gomez. Bradley made a huge impact, almost creating an immediate breakthrough for Ekitiké with his first touch and forcing Sommer to save at his near post when released clear in the box by the France international. Bradley was also the driving force behind the passage of play that led to Liverpool’s late penalty.
At the end of an unedifying storm, Slot could savour the reaction from those players who clearly remain behind him.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Szoboszlai scores the penalty goal that seals the match for Liverpool.
FULL RESULTS:
Kairat Almaty – Olympiacos Piraeus 0:1
Bayern Munich – Sporting CP 3:1
Atalanta – Chelsea 2:1
Barcelona – Eintracht Frankfurt 2:1
Inter – Liverpool 0:1
Monaco – Galatasaray 1:0
PSV – Atl. Madrid 2:3
Royale Union SG – Marseille 2:3
Tottenham – Slavia Prague 3:0
