Liverpool’s failure against Napoli is not too worrying for Jurgen Klopp
Napoli did the home double over Liverpool on the arrival of Champions League football. A 2-0 victory for Carlo Ancelotti and his Italian side over the previous Champions of Europe, Liverpool.
The Reds, in fact, begins their UCL proceedings in a similar fashion as they did last season in their winning run, and no surprise, like the previous one where they were runners-up to Real Madrid. It’s fair to say… Klopp and his boys do not like the group stages.
A narrow victory over PSG at Anfield had similar scenes to their triumph that night. Late drama and two teams well-contested. A season prior to that, a draw to Sevilla at the same venue, Anfield with the teams belting out comparable performances to each other.
More from Champions League
- Manchester United predicted lineup vs Bayern Munich – UEFA Champions League 2023/24
- Arsenal predicted lineup vs PSV: Mikel Arteta to drop “Henry-esque” winger
- Newcastle predicted lineup vs AC Milan: Tough decisions for Eddie Howe
- Newcastle United extend Callum Wilson’s contract for another year
- Arsenal: Mikel Arteta excludes £38m signing in Champions League squad
Spot the pattern?
The pattern goes that the Merseyside club has now last five of their last seven fixtures on the roads of Europe. That, and the Naples men know what it takes to knock the ruthless Reds off their roost.
The scoreline is no true reflection of what went on, on the pitch. However, the only score that matter is the final score, which read Napoli two and Liverpool zero, setting up Group E in the perfect way possible.
Little to worry about for Klopp?
The fixture was a lot more contested by both teams compared to the last meeting inside the San Paolo Stadium. Both teams shared the possession of the ball with the visitors (53% possession) just about edging the home side (47% possession).
It was more a battle between two of the planet’s best defenders, Kalidou Koulibaly and Virgil van Dijk. The two were on top of their game, yet, it was the African and countryman of Sadio Mane who won the battle.
A rare mistake by van Dijk led to Llorente’s first and Napoli’s final goal of the night. Apart from the blunder by Europe’s best defender and an error by VAR (depending on what side of the fence you sit on with the penalty awarded), the game was going for a stalemate.
Each player on the pitch cancelled each other, indefinitely! Both stoppers played as if they’ve been in the Champions League for many seasons, despite this being their debut game.
Next. Madrid rumoured to have their next EPL player in sight. dark
It’s hard to be disappointed for the German boss. He knows the improvements will come with better decisions in certain situations but he as the manager, he set up correctly. This, due to the fact his side had enough clearcut chances to take the game away from the home side.
Their next test comes against the leaders, Red Bull Salzburg, who really took the game to their opponents, Genk. A 6-2 victory for the Austrian club as they top Group E on goal difference. That fixture comes at the start of next month.