A penalty to win it at San Siro. Perhaps Mohamed Salah, wherever he was watching it, reflected that he could have been taking it. Instead, with the Egyptian in exile, it was Dominik Szoboszlai, who first took his spot on the right wing and now his role as the spot-kick specialist, who dispatched it, brilliantly.

And this was a brilliant result for Arne Slot, a brilliant night for Liverpool. What started out as the calm after the storm, a quietly organised performance, became something more. Generous as the award of the penalty was, it produced Liverpool’s best result of the season and an endorsement of a beleaguered manager. Internazionale, Champions League finalists last season, unbeaten in 18 group-stage games at San Siro, were defeated by the depleted. Slot showed he could win in Milan without Salah; without a host of others, too. His name echoed from the top tiers of one of Europe’s great grounds. In a week when Slot has been tested, he was triumphant.

He drew a response from his players. Each performed in a manner to suggest that he, unlike Salah, still has a relationship with the head coach. There was a collective commitment, players putting the team first. No one was thrown under the bus, though some seemed willing to throw themselves in front of shots. Liverpool looked less like a club in crisis than a team with a point to prove.

And Slot showed his flexibility. This was an old-school European performance. It had the air of an away game overseen by Rafa Benitez or Gerard Houllier, not Slot.

If Slot has had plenty of other things to occupy him in the last few days, he found time to construct a different gameplan. Lacking Salah or anyone remotely resembling a winger, he opted for a diamond of four central midfielders; even using Alexis Mac Allister at the tip seemed designed to get Szoboszlai’s running power on the right to help out defensively. There was a pragmatism to the rethink. Slot showed he could change.

Arne Slot secured a much-needed win after dealing with Mo Salah’s media outburst (REUTERS)

Liverpool showed they could defend. They have conceded 38 goals this season but shut out Serie A’s top scorers. Apart from a terrific save from Alisson on the stroke of half-time, repelling Lautaro Martinez’s header, the goalkeeper was rarely tested. His colleagues saw to that. Liverpool had concentration, determination, organisation; qualities they have not always combined this season.

They had the best player on the pitch in a local. Curtis Jones was terrific, forever available in the midfield. There was something symbolic that it was Szoboszlai, Liverpool’s player of the season, who scored, however.

He fired his penalty into the roof of the net. The gentlest of tugs had been scarcely the wisest, Alessandro Bastoni grabbing Florian Wirtz’s shirt. Referee Felix Zwayer viewed the damning still on a monitor. VAR had cost Liverpool a goal earlier. Now it earned them one.

Dominik Szoboszlai netted the winning goal for Liverpool with a late penalty (REUTERS)

Ibrahima Konate’s headed goal was ruled out for handball in the first half (Fabrizio Carabelli/PA Wire)

Briefly, Liverpool thought they had a first-half lead. Ibrahima Konate had what seemed a redemptive goal ruled out, with the ball coming to him via Hugo Ekitike’s arm; it took an interminably long VAR review to disallow it. It stemmed from Szoboszlai’s corner but, to borrow from Slot’s language, Liverpool were to end with a positive set-piece balance when the Hungarian converted from 12 yards.

In a game of patience, they had other chances. Yann Sommer was the busier goalkeeper, denying Jones and Ryan Gravenberch in the space of a few seconds in the opening 20 minutes. When the substitute Conor Bradley threatened, Sommer made a near-post save. Liverpool finished the stronger, and their other replacement made a difference.

Wirtz began on the bench. This was not cue for a Salah-esque strop from the £100m man. He instead came on for Alexander Isak, who started alongside Ekitike for just the second time but, as has been the case throughout the season, saw the Frenchman look fitter and sharper.

Inter Milan were aggrieved that the penalty was awarded after a VAR check (REUTERS)

Wirtz and Bradley apart, Slot had little in reserve. His squad was stretched. He only named eight substitutes, two of them goalkeepers, three others teenagers.

It all presented an opportunity to Inter. They failed to grasp it, lacking urgency, misplacing too many passes, suffering a second straight Champions League defeat. While Liverpool had suffered from injuries before the game, Inter during it. They lost Hakan Calhanoglu after 10 minutes and Francesco Acerbi on the half-hour. Yet Inter still could have done more to expose Liverpool’s vulnerabilities.

Instead, Slot was to emerge far stronger. A team that had lost nine games in a run of 12 are now unbeaten in four. That began with Salah being dropped. Slot made a major decision then, a second when leaving Salah at home because of his explosive comments at Leeds. On both counts, he looks right.