English Premier League giants Liverpool are back on the winning track after defeating Serie A giants Napoli in their last UEFA Champions League match.
Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah and summer signing Darwin Núñez made the difference for the home side.
Having qualified for the next stage of the UCL, this match was more of a dead match. Before the match, however, Liverpool suffered a shocking 2-1 loss against Leeds. So Klopp’s team desperately wanted to win the match and boost morale.
Jurgen Klopp started the match with a 4-3-3. Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson kept his place under the bar. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Konstantinos Tsimikas made up the back line. James Milner, Fabinho and Thiago Alacantara were the midfielders. Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones started on the wings while Roberto Firmino led the forward line.
Two late Liverpool goals
The local team had a better start to the match. They got their first big chance when right-back Alexander Arnold found Salah on the edge of the box. The Egyptian then made a great pass to Curtis Jones whose shot missed the target.
Napoli had their first real chance in the 29th minute of the match, but Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson made a great save to prevent Ndombele’s shot from going wide. From the counterattack, Liverpool almost scored a goal when Thiago doubled Salha before firing. Napoli goalkeeper Meret showed good goalkeeping and kept the score level.
Both teams failed to create more chances in the first half as the score remained 0-0. Just after the break, England midfielder James Milner suffered an injury. Harvey Elliott was substituted to take his place.
Shortly after this, Napoli defender Ostigard scored from a Khvicha Kvratskhelia free kick. However, the goal was later disallowed for an offside offence. Napoli increased the pressure on the Liverpool defense and kept Alisson busy for the next few minutes.
The Liverpool defense managed to stay compact and soaked up the pressure from Napoli as we went into the final minutes. Then the Reds finally took the lead in the 85th minute through their talisman, Mohamed Salah.
Liverpool left-back Tsimikas sent a brilliant corner into the area that was not properly picked up by Napoli goalkeeper Meret and fell to an unmarked Salah. Salah put the ball into the back of the net to give Liverpool the lead.
Liverpool soon scored their second goal. Uruguayan striker Darwin Núñez scored from the rebound after Van Dijk’s thunderous header was not well intercepted by the Napoli goalkeeper.
The match ended in a 2-0 win for the Reds. However, despite the victory, they finished second in the table. Meanwhile, Napoli qualified first in the group.
