Jurgen Klopp was relieved to see his Liverpool side squeeze past Inter in the Champions League last 16, but took time to praise the Reds' opponents following Tuesday's defeat at Anfield.
Lautaro Martinez put the Italians within reach with a brilliant strike in the second half, the only goal of the evening which cut Liverpool's aggregate lead to 2-1.
That advantage proved enough for the Merseysiders, though, who were helped by Alexis Sanchez's red card minutes after Lautaro had opened the scoring.
What was said?
“I’m glad we don’t face Inter every week, they’re a very tricky opponent. They are fighters, they are warriors," Klopp acknowledged after the final whistle to BT Sport.
"The difficulties we had were pretty close to what I expected. Inter are a really, really good side, set up for these kind of games.
"Without playing brilliantly we had clear-cut chances. Over the two legs it's completely fine that they won one and we went through. We could've done better against an opponent that makes life uncomfortable.
"It was a really interesting game. In the end we lost the game which obviously is not cool, we didn't come here to lose a home game.
"The opponent caused us problems but if we had used our chances we win this game. We lost a lot of simple balls, which can happen and when the ball was in the air it was like slapstick with the wind.
"The counter-press was not really there. We were around challenges but not in challenges and we didn't get the momentum, that's what we were lacking."
The bigger picture
Tuesday's reverse was the first time in almost exactly a year that Klopp's charges have fallen at home, with their last defeat coming to Fulham on March 7, 2021.
Liverpool nevertheless advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and retain hopes of a quadruple in 2021-22.
The club lifted the Carabao Cup at the end of February and can reach the FA Cup last four with victory over Nottingham Forest, while in the Premier League they sit six points behind leaders Manchester City having played a game fewer than their rivals.