‘Man of the match’ – Stephen Warnock singles out three ‘outstanding performers’ in Liverpool win

Stephen Warnock singled out three Liverpool players for praise after their richly deserved 1-0 victory away to Inter Milan on Tuesday night.

The Reds overcame the injustice of Ibrahima Konate’s harshly disallowed first-half goal to benefit from a VAR decision in their favour after Florian Wirtz had his shirt tugged in the penalty area, with Dominik Szoboszlai netting the subsequent spot kick in the 88th minute.

The win lifts Arne Slot’s side onto 12 points in the Champions League standings and all but guarantees a knockout play-off round place at a minimum, with a direct passage to the last 16 still very much on for the English champions.

Warnock praises ‘outstanding’ Liverpool trio

Warnock was particularly impressed by Liverpool’s midfield at the San Siro tonight, namechecking three of that starting quartet for praise shortly after the full-time.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the former Reds defender said: “I’m just looking down at Ryan Gravenberch, who was the man of the match. I think you could have given that to him or Curtis Jones or Dominik [Szoboszlai], who were the outstanding performers.”

All of Liverpool’s midfielders were superb tonight

The one midfielder who Warnock didn’t mention also impressed tonight, with Alexis Mac Allister embodying the team spirit from Liverpool by remonstrating with Inter players when they tried to sway the referee into showing Jones a second yellow card.

All three players that the pundit mentioned were fully deserving of the praise which came their way. Szoboszlai will grab the headlines for converting the late penalty, and he was also vital in providing assistance for Joe Gomez on the right and was unrelenting with the energy that he expended.

Gravenberch was magnificent at the base of the midfield diamond, completing 100% of his dribbles and 93% of his passes, winning five duels and making five interceptions and three clearances in a tireless performance (Sofascore).

Aside from a silly booking for dissent, Jones stood out for his lively display as he forced a strong save from Yann Sommer and drove at the Inter defence at will. He was excellent with his use of the ball, completing all three dribbles and 96% of his passes, and he too won five of his duels (Sofascore).

Slot rolled the dice with the structure of his midfield, but it paid off handsomely for Liverpool on a night when all four played a vital part in securing what could be a huge result for the Reds in a season of much struggle.

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