Simone Inzaghi makes unexpected Liverpool claim after Inter Milan knocked out of the Champions League

Simone Inzaghi has hailed Liverpool as the ‘best team in Europe’ following his sides elimination in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

The Inter Milan manager also admitted he harboured regrets after matching the Reds for the majority of the two-legged tie but ultimately falling short.

The Italian side beat a lacklustre Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield on Tuesday evening thanks to a fantastic Lautaro Martinez strike, but couldn’t muster up the quality to level the aggregate score and ultimately petered out - thanks in part to Alexis Sanchez’ red-card just two minutes later.

They also had the better of the first-leg at the San Siro but failed to take their chances before Jurgen Klopp’s men struck two sucker punches courtesy of Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota.

“There are certainly great regrets, as we wanted to reach this Round of 16 with all our strength,” Inzaghi said to Sky Italia.

“We were up against Liverpool, who along with Manchester City and Bayern Munich are the best team in Europe right now, and we fought them on an even keel.

“We are probably paying the price for the final 15 minutes of the first leg, because I think we had two very good games against an excellent opponent.

“We played a great a game for 75 minutes at San Siro then conceded from a set-piece. In the first half from set-pieces they created issues, and in the second half we began to get the upper hand and scored a goal and unfortunately Sanchez got sent off.

“I haven’t really looked at it in any great detail so it’s difficult to comment on it

“We feel upset about the fact we had a player sent off just when we were getting the upper hand in the game.”

Inzaghi doesn’t regret leaving Sanchez on

Known in Serie A for a no-nonsense approach to substituting yellow-carded players, it was surprising that Inzaghi left Sanchez on for so long following his first-half booking for a foul on Thiago - which Jurgen Klopp thought was a straight red.

“Absolutely not,” Inzaghi said, when asked if he regretted the decision.

“Because in that moment I needed Sanchez on the pitch and was not going to change him on a night like this.

“I had a few fitness issues as well as being down to 10 men. Hakan Calhanoglu was tired, Dzeko will be very important in Turin, so I had to make other calculations. I wasn’t trying to protect the 1-0, I was trying to keep it in the balance to the end so we could snatch it with a set play.

“The regret is Sanchez, because Liverpool really were shaken by Lautaro’s goal and I wanted to see what happened after that.”

Ultimately, Sanchez’ sending off changed turned the tide at Anfield and Liverpool were comfortable for the final half-hour, creating chances of their own.

Their 2-1 aggregate win puts Liverpool’s name in the draw for the Champions League quarter-finals, which takes place on Friday March 18.