| Nicolas Burdisso was sent off and Luis Figo refused to play as Inter crashed out of the Champions League, losing 1-0 to Fernando Torres' Liverpool. The Nerazzurri had a 2-0 deficit to come back from in the week they celebrated their centenary. Marco Materazzi was suspended following his extremely harsh dismissal at Anfield, while Walter Samuel, Ivan Cordoba and Olivier Dacourt are out for the season. Cristian Chivu returned with the aid of heavy strapping to a shoulder injury, while Liverpool were without Xabi Alonso due to the imminent birth of his child. Skrtel made his Champions League debut. 80,000 packed into the Stadio Giuseppe Mazza hoping for a repeat of their only other meeting on May 12 1965, when Inter fought back from a 3-1 first leg defeat to win 3-0 in the European Cup semi-final, going on to lift the trophy. Roberto Mancini reshuffled his squad with Nicolas Burdisso at left-back and Dejan Stankovic behind the strikers. The first real chance came after eight minutes with Jose Reina at full stretch to palm a fierce Julio Cruz drive round the near post from 20 metres. The Nerazzurri wanted to be given the advantage for Cruz, but the referee halted play for a foul on Javier Zanetti. Ibrahimovic hit the resulting missile at the wall, but it had to be retaken as Ryan Babel was booked for coming forward. Ibra's second attempt was over the bar. The Swede flicked the ball up twice with his heel in spectacular fashion, but failed to get the pass through to Cruz, as it was intercepted. Nelson Rivas managed to close down a Fernando Torres turn in the area. On 24 minutes Julio Cesar had to rush out and perform a perfectly-timed tackle as Babel sprung the offside trap and was clear on goal. The goalkeeper was called upon again after Rivas' error and an Esteban Cambiasso slip let Torres through at the near post. Inter thought they had scored on the half-hour as Ibrahimovic threaded a pass through three Liverpool players to send Cruz totally clear on goal and the angled drive whistled past Reina only to shave a coat of paint off the far post. Kuyt had a good chance too, scuffing his shot wide from eight yards and two consecutive defensive errors from Rivas and Maicon handed Liverpool dangerous opportunities. Skrtl intercepted a cross with Cruz waiting for the tap-in from six yards, but a fantastic chance fell to Il Jardinero just before the break, as he cheekily flicked on a Maicon cross with his heel from six yards to bring a desperate point-blank reaction save out of Reina. Straight after the restart Patrick Vieira had a good opportunity set up by Cambiasso, but he hesitated and allowed himself to be closed down inside the box. However, just as in the first leg, Inter were reduced to 10 men for a second bookable offence. This time it was Burdisso who went flying in on Lucas Leiva in midfield and got his second yellow card. It was the Nerazzurri's fourth dismissal in seven Champions League games. Ibrahimovic took almost all the free kicks for Inter and blasted them all off target. Moments later he pounced on a Skrtel defensive error and went for glory, flashing across the face of goal when Cruz was in the centre totally unmarked and ready to tap in. Rivas was inevitably booked for a cynical shoulder check on Babel as he rushed towards the box and Julio Cesar tipped the resulting Steven Gerrard free kick out from under the bar. The misses and the red card proved to be costly, as did Maicon losing the ball in midfield. On the counter Liverpool scored their third goal of the tie. Torres had his back to goal, spun round and placed a low drive inbetween Julio Cesar and the near post. Inter now needed four goals to qualify in 25 minutes with a man down. To make matters worse, there was a touchline row in which Luis Figo was asked to come on as a substitute, but refused to get off the bench. After a recent argument with Vieira, this is another sign of dissent within the ranks. Cruz took over free kick duties and was again over the bar, but the game was effectively over. Substitute Benayoun's angled drive was deflected out for a corner. The San Siro crowd was furious with its team for another sluggish performance in this competition and jeered Vieira off the field. Ibrahimovic had a similar reception when he went off for David Suazo moments after blasting well over when totally clear on goal having sprung the offside trap from Chivu's through ball. At that stage Inter visibly stopped playing, turning it into a training session for Liverpool, and angry fans walked out of the stadium. Others, however, remained behind and the two sets of supporters applauded each other in a show of sportsmanship.
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