Napoli 4-1 Liverpool: The Kop suffered a disastrous start in their Champions League curtain raiser

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Line-ups:

Napoli: Meret, Olivera (Rui 74'), Kim, Rrahmani, Di Lorenzo, Zielinski (Elmas 74'), Lobotka, Anguissa, Politano (Lozano 57'), Kvaratskhelia (Zerbin 57'), Osimhen (Simeone 41')
Liverpool: Alisson, Arnold, Gomez (Matip 46'), Van Dijk, Robertson, Milner (Thiago 62'), Fabinho, Elliott (Melo 77'), Diaz, Salah (Jota 62'), Firmino (Nunez 62')

Napoli 4-1 Liverpool:

Liverpool have not had a good start this season when they have just earned 9 points after 6 games and are ranked 9^th in the Premier League’s table. There are two determinants to blame for their poor performances recently, which are the long injury list, especially in the midfielders, and the fragility of the defensive system. In the battle yesterday at Diego Armando Maradona stadium, these aforementioned issues of the Reds were deployed effectively by the Italian side.

Right after the whistle was blown, Liverpool’s “soft” defense was witnessed when their offside trap was easily beaten by Osimhen, but it was unfortunate for the Nigerian striker that his shot from a tight right angle hit the post after he dribbled past goalkeeper Alison. But the home team did not have to be regretful for so long. The veteran James Milner, who had been expected to replace Thiago to lead the Kop’s midfield, made a clumsy handball foul in the penalty area, giving Zielinski a chance to score from the penalty spot, and he succeeded.

In the 16^th minute, Osimhen should have doubled Napoli’s lead when he was given away the second penalty for the home team by Van Dijk after VAR review. However, Alisson was good enough to save the penalty from the rival’s forward.

It was one of the most terrible night for Joe Gomez as he seemed to be disoriented and played like a amateur player. In the 27h minute, he was stolen the ball by Osimhen in front of the box, but Van Dijk was well blocked in front of the line. 4 minutes later, the English defender stood as a statue in a simple opponent’s one-two, before Anguissa slid the ball past Alisson to make it 2-0 for Napoli.

                                                          Liverpool's performance overall was represented by Joe Gomez's poor performance.

The Champions League runner-up conceded the third goal before the break. Joe Gomez was once again at fault when he was outmuscled by Kvaratskhelia, who set up Giovanni Simeone to tap in.

Struggling Gomez was replaced by Joel Matip after the break. Surprisingly, it was the only change carried out by Jurgen Klopp after a disastrous half-time, and how on earth was James Milner still on the pitch?

80 seconds after the break, Zielinski, in a counter attack, tapped in after Alisson had saved initially, before Luis Diaz curled the ball into the bottom corner to score a consolation goal for the Kop two minutes later.

With this result, Liverpool have lost three games at Napoli’s stadium consecutively. During the 2018-19 season, Liverpool was beaten 0-1 at San Paolo (Napoli’s stadium’s former name), and the English team lost 0-2 when the two teams were in the same group stage in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League season.

Other results:

Group A:

Ajax 4-0 Rangers

Group B:

Atletico Madrid 2-1 Porto

Club Brugge 1-0 Leverkusen

Group C:

Inter Milan 0-2 Bayern

Barcelona 5-1 Plzen

Group D:

Tottenham 2-0 Marseille

Frankfurt 0-3 Sporting