Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says he and his teammates must play against Inter Milan like their lives depend on it.

The skipper insisted: "We need to make a good start to set us up for the trip to Italy in three weeks' time.

"The San Siro isn't one of those places where you want to be chasing a result. In a perfect world for us, we would score a couple of goals and keep it tight at the back and make sure we don't give anything away.

"But Inter don't concede many goals in any competition and they have great players all over the pitch.

"So to get that kind of result we are going to have to turn in maybe our best 90 minutes of the season.

"They are a fantastic side. You have to be to be so far ahead in the Italian league as they are at the moment.

"It looks as though they are odds on to make it three titles in a row in Italy and that is a fantastic achievement for them."