Van Dijk had defended against plenty of outstanding Premier League forwards, and Liverpool had faced plenty of outstanding Premier League teams. In previous Champions League campaigns, they had also frequently come up against clubs from the Bundesliga and La Liga.
Serie A as a whole had gone through a relatively weak spell in recent years, but Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Napoli, and several other Italian clubs had gradually begun improving.
Roma were another example. More and more Serie A clubs were becoming competitive in the Champions League again, which meant Liverpool were starting to encounter Italian opposition more often.
Facing this Inter Milan side was anything but easy.
Leo could feel it, and so could Van Dijk.
Van Dijk had been caught off guard by Lautaro Martínez's sudden burst of acceleration and was immediately left behind. Fortunately for Liverpool, Alisson had kept the ball out.
Afterward, Van Dijk adjusted his positioning.
Instead of standing to Lautaro's left, he moved directly behind him.
That made it harder for Lautaro to turn and explode into space. It also allowed Van Dijk to use his position from behind to reduce the impact of Lautaro's initial burst before turning and trying to catch him.
Leo also told Rodri what he thought about his positioning.
The fact that Brozović had been able to thread that pass straight through showed that Rodri's position at defensive midfield had given Brozović a clear opening for the through ball.
"Brozović is a very good player. Like a lot of Croatian midfielders, he's extremely well-rounded."
At Inter, Brozović was capable of delivering plenty of quality passes for Lautaro Martínez.
Çalhanoğlu was currently being shut down by Leo, while Vidal was occupied with defensive duties.
Inter's midfield almost seemed to have trapped itself in defense.
"If Vidal wants to mark Leo, he has to follow him wherever he goes. But following Leo also means drifting into Çalhanoğlu's area and taking away some of the space Çalhanoğlu needs to operate."
Gullit thought Simone Inzaghi should consider freeing either Dimarco or Vidal from some of their defensive responsibilities.
"Some people like to call him 'Little Simeone,' while others call him 'Little Inzaghi.' Either way, he is younger than Atlético Madrid manager Simeone, and he's also younger than the legendary Inzaghi."
"But personally, I'd still rather call him Simone Inzaghi."
"Inzaghi needs to free up Çalhanoğlu and Dimarco at home. Inter need goals here!"
The match continued, and Rodri began paying much closer attention to Brozović's direct passes.
Lautaro Martínez also started rotating more often.
He repeatedly moved away from Van Dijk and toward Konaté, leaving Džeko to attack Van Dijk instead.
Lautaro had an advantage against Konaté.
Liverpool had started the match calmly.
They weren't nervous, but they weren't overly aggressive either. It looked as though they wanted to get used to Inter's rhythm first.
In the 21st minute.
Leo remained in midfield, continuing to mark Çalhanoğlu.
Çalhanoğlu kept moving in search of the ball, but once Leo locked onto him, shaking him off was almost impossible.
De Vrij still managed to find Brozović with a pass.
Brozović received it and turned with the ball as Szoboszlai stepped forward to press.
Brozović quickly shifted the ball onto his left and played it out to Dimarco.
For the first time in the match, Dimarco surged forward down the flank.
Gvardiol moved across to confront him.
Dimarco tried to burst straight past him on the outside, but Gvardiol turned sideways and ran with him, extending an arm in front of Dimarco to disrupt his first acceleration.
Dimarco went down.
The referee waved play on.
"Gvardiol wins the ball from Dimarco! That decision tells both teams something important. The referee is going to allow a fair amount of physical contact today, so the pressing from both sides will probably become even more aggressive!"
After winning possession, Gvardiol played the ball back to Rodri.
Rodri once again looked for Leo, but Vidal and Dimarco immediately stepped forward, while Çalhanoğlu joined the press as well.
Leo pointed toward Szoboszlai.
As Rodri released the ball, Leo suddenly turned and exploded past Çalhanoğlu.
It was exactly what Stones and Bernardo Silva had experienced when Liverpool faced Manchester City.
Now Çalhanoğlu understood it too.
Even if he had been given two extra steps to react, there was no chance he could catch Leo.
Dimarco and Vidal both tried to use their bodies against him.
Both were physically strong.
But strength was relative.
Compared with Leo, neither of them was quite strong enough.
Dimarco couldn't knock Leo down.
Instead, Leo absorbed the contact and kept running forward while Szoboszlai quickly played the ball into his path.
Inter had needed three midfielders to build that defensive trap.
Leo tore straight through it in an instant.
Leo carried the ball forward.
Núñez was positioned beside de Vrij, Diaz had drifted wide as usual and was waiting for the pass, and Salah was also available.
Leo chose to attack Brozović himself.
He cut the ball to the left.
Rather than trying to beat Brozović immediately, Leo first checked whether there was a passing lane to Núñez.
There wasn't.
So Leo pushed the ball forward again and burst past Brozović.
Brozović had no choice but to grab at him.
He failed to pull Leo off balance, but the contact did prevent Leo from settling the ball immediately after getting past him.
The referee didn't blow the whistle.
He waited to see whether Leo could retain control.
Leo did.
Škriniar was already charging toward him.
Just as Leo was about to use La Croqueta, Škriniar stepped across and stopped him, practically wrapping both arms around him in the process.
Only then did the referee finally blow his whistle.
"Ref, I fouled him first!" Brozović protested.
He wanted the referee to call the earlier foul because Škriniar had brought Leo down much closer to goal.
At least several steps closer than where Brozović had made contact.
"Advantage, Brozović. I don't need you telling me how to referee the match!"
Gullit watched Brozović and immediately understood what he was complaining about.
"I used to think the advantage rule wasn't something we'd see all that often during a match, but referees almost seem used to applying it whenever Leo is involved now."
"Because with an ordinary player, the first foul is usually enough to stop him."
"With Leo, even fouling him once often isn't enough!"
Leo looked toward Inter's goal.
Handanović had arranged all the taller players toward the left side of the goal while positioning himself toward the right.
No Liverpool player stood near Leo.
There was no point.
No matter how many teammates gathered around the ball, Handanović already knew Leo was going to shoot directly.
Leo wasn't looking at the goal.
He was staring at the top of Škriniar's head.
If the free kick was going in, the ball had to clear Škriniar before beginning to dip.
Leo started his run-up.
For a moment, the entire Inter stadium seemed to move with him at its center.
Then the ball rose in the opposite direction, sailed over Škriniar, and began dropping toward Handanović.
...
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