Wounded Liverpool a dangerous proposition for Inter, says Thuram

Inter face a wounded Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday, though Marcus Thuram was not underestimating the Premier League champions.

Liverpool have endured a miserable start to the 2025-26 campaign, sitting ninth in the Premier League table following a run of poor results since the end of September. 

Indeed, after winning all five of their opening top-flight fixtures, Arne Slot's team have won just two of their last 10 league games, which included a run of four straight defeats. 

And their fortunes have not altered in Europe, with the Reds 13th in the 36-team standings, with their last Champions League game seeing them thumped 4-1 at home by PSV. 

In the wake of their 3-3 draw with Leeds United at the weekend, Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, who was an unused substitute in that game, gave an explosive post-match interview, suggesting that the club had "thrown him under the bus" during their on-pitch struggles. 

Salah has since been left out of Liverpool's travelling party for the encounter at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, further fuelling rumours of a potential Anfield exit in January. 

Inter, meanwhile, are second in Serie A by one point and have won four of their five matches in the Champions League, with the Opta supercomputer handing them a 5% chance of European glory, the seventh-highest figure in their predictions. 

But when asked if Inter have anything more than their opponents this season, Thuram replied: "I don't think so, each game is an individual episode.

"We'll play against a strong team with a lot of champions in their squad. Everyone says it's the right time to face Liverpool, but maybe it isn't."

Thuram is right to be wary of Liverpool's threat, given that across their six all-time meetings, all of which have come in the European Cup/Champions League, the Reds have four of the six to date (L2).

Liverpool have also won five of their last six away games against Italian sides in Europe (L1), including one at the Giuseppe Meazza last season (3-1 v Milan in September 2024).

In fact, they have won all four of the away games they have played at that venue in the Champions League (v Milan in 2021 and 2024, v Inter in 2008 and 2022).

But they come up against an Inter side who are unbeaten in their last three games across all competitions, netting 11 goals in those matches. 

Their latest result saw them thump Como 4-0 on Saturday, with Thuram's 59th-minute strike taking him to eight goals in 16 appearances in all competitions this term. 

He also became the top-scoring Frenchman in Inter's Serie A history with 31 goals, overtaking Youri Djorkaeff (30), and Thuram was ready to go again against Liverpool. 

Should Thuram start against Liverpool, it will be three in six days for him, but the Inter striker said: "I feel good. A dangerous question."

He had given a similar response when asked about his physical condition after a 3-0 win over Slavia Prague in the Champions League at the end of September.

He went on to miss over a month of action after that, but Thuram reassured: "All joking aside, I've come back from an injury, but I've recovered well, and I'm ready."