English club Liverpool are having a difficult time both in the EPL and the UCL. Liverpool sit 7th in the point table with two victories from six matches in the EPL. However, they started their journey to the UEFA Champions League with a humiliating defeat against the Italian side, Napoli. Last night, Napoli welcomed Liverpool at the Stadio San Paolo, where they defeated Liverpool by a 4-1 margin.
As it happened
Liverpool traveled to Italy to face Napoli to play their first match in the UCL. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp set up the team formation with 4-3-3 in this match. Mohammad Salah led the attacking line with Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz. On the other side, Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti played his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
As the home team, Napoli FC tried to dominate from the beginning of the match. They highly pressed the opponents in the first half. As a result, the home team didn’t have to wait much to take the lead. In the 5th minute, James Milner made a handball inside the box, so the match referee offered a penalty kick to Napoli. Piotr Zielinski took the kick and made no mistakes! As a result, Napoli took the lead within 5 minutes.
The home team could have scored another goal from the spot kick. But Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Backer made a brilliant save this time. However, Napoli kept pressing the visitors. They easily broke the defense of Liverpool. So, they doubled their lead in the 31st minute as Zambo Anguissa scored that goal for Napoli.
Conceding two goals in the first half, Liverpool became desperate to find the net. They tried hard to score a goal, but Napoli were rock solid in defense. Moreover, Liverpool conceded the third goal in the first half as Giovanni Simeone found the net in the 44th minute. As a result, Napoli went to the break with three goals lead.
Napoli kept the same rhythm in the second half. They scored a stunning goal immediately after the break. Piotr Zielinski scored his second and team’s fourth goal in the 47th minute. However, Luis Diaz returned a goal for Liverpool in the 49th minute. But, they couldn’t score more in the remaining minutes. As a result, Napoli won the match with a great margin.