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And so on to the return of European club competition as we travel to the San Siro to take on the Italian champions. Inter have been the strongest and most consistent side in Italy over the past couple of seasons, finally ending the near-decade long domestic dominance of Juventus. They’ve found a set-up and system that suits them, and a high number of very effective players in key positions. It will take a lot of concentration and determination to get a good result in this one, although bear in mind that from this season away goals don’t count to separate teams that are level on aggregate. If the aggregate is tied after 90 minutes of the second leg, it will go to extra time. You don’t need to play for a 0-0 and hope to nick a goal on the counter, you just need to ensure you are never out of the tie, and take your chances as and when they arrive. Anyway: Organisation. Strength. Spatial awareness. Obduracy. Bravery. Urgency. Class. Order. I don’t ask for much. Inter are not a side we’ve faced on many occasions in the past. Part of that is down to luck of the draw, and part of it is down to both not always competing in the European Cup in the same season in those early days for Shanks and the Italian club’s legendary ultra-defensive coach Helenio Herrera. I guess an even bigger part is that statistical quirk which saw Liverpool not paired up against an Italian club between facing Juventus in the 1965/66 Cup-Winners’ Cup, and the 1984 European Cup final against Roma. The clubs last met at this same stage of the competition back in 2007/08. Liverpool had recovered from an embarrassing FA Cup exit at home to Barnsley, despatching the Italians 2-0 at Anfield thanks to late goals from Dirk and Stevie. We had one foot in the quarter final but were travelling to the San Siro for the second leg in March 2008 against Roberto Mancini’s team who were still a formidable outfit on their own turf. Inter simply struggled to get going as we strangled the match with diligence and game management. Mancini wasn’t helped by Zlatan delivering a steaming pile of Zlatan of a performance on the European stage yet again, in stark contrast to his Serie A form where he could flat track bully utter shite like Empoli and Livorno. Inter had most of the ball but could make very little headway. That was a squad packed with quality made to look utterly ordinary. The game was in its last quarter when we broke upfield, Fabio Aurelio found space on the left edge of the area and squared a ball to the unmarked Torres in the middle. El Nino brought the ball down and buried a shot into the bottom corner to make it 3-0 to the Reds on aggregate. The Spaniard had been a revelation that season and was suddenly in the conversation when discussing the best centre forward on the planet. The game petered out and the only action of note was Inter’s Burdisso seeing red for a late challenge on Lucas in the closing stages. The Italian had had Materazzi sent off in the first leg too. Massimo Moratti, Inter owner and Pirelli supremo, finally dispensed with the services of Mancini at the end of the season as Inter crawled over the finish line to retain their Serie A title on the last day of the season, just ahead of Roma. They also lost in the final of the Coppa Italia that May, against Roma. Moratti and Inter had been known for a scattergun approach to coaching and recruitment for over a decade so the Mancini years had been an unusually stable time for the club. They were helped by Juventus and Milan having had their wings clipped after Calciopoli (Juventus had only just returned to Serie A in 2007 following their demotion, and Ancelotti’s Milan, despite being reigning European champions were an aging squad). Roma could beat anybody on their day but lacked the consistency to offer a credible title threat. It was the fact that Mancini could make no headway in Europe that saw Moratti fire him and hire the most high profile coach in the game at the time. That was a move which paid off handsomely as they finally got their hands on the big one again 2 years later. March 2008 saw the latest adaptation of a Dr Seuss story top the US box office. Unlike the previous 2 films (The Grinch, and The Cat in the Hat), this one was fully animated. Silly title, though I guess that’s a staple of Dr Seuss’ oeuvre. Horton Hears a Who! starred Jim Carrey as Horton, the elephant who can hear the sounds of the denizens of Whoville on a flower. Nobody else in this world can hear it but Horton has exceptional hearing and can detect sounds from something that is microscopic in size. The film also added the voices of Steve Carell, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill (those last 2 are almost interchangeable as they seemed to be in everything back then). You won’t be surprised to learn that I’ve not seen it, nor have a seen the other Dr Seuss stuff. To my mind, Dr Seuss just wasn’t a thing as a kid growing up in the UK. Stateside, kids would be aware of the whimsical stories and characters pretty much from the womb, so what carries vague interest over here translates as hugely popular over there. That’s how I see it but maybe I’ve got it wrong. What do you lot think? We go into the Inter game with more strength in depth than I can recall for quite a while. Our bench looks so much stronger and gives us more options when picking a staring XI as well as making changes during the game. We’ve been very very strong in the Champions League this season, coming out of what on paper looked a tough group with a 100% record. That counts for nothing in the knockout stage. What matters now are momentum, luck, and doing all the right things. We have the tools to get the job done, but we must show it.