Napoli accomplished their mission at Anfield Road as they lost 0-2 to Liverpool on Tuesday night but managed to retain the first spot in the Champions League Group A. The Reds needed to win by at least a four-goal margin to pass the Partenopei but only found the net late in the game.
Mohamed Salah scored on 84 minutes, then Darwin Nunez added a second one during stoppage time of a game that offered little emotions. Luciano Spalletti and his boys mostly cared about defending themselves and avoiding injuries even though the Napoli coach lined up his best men at Anfield.
Liverpool, on the other hand, seemed to realistically believe that scoring four goals to this Napoli was almost impossible and didn’t even try that hard. Alex Meret denied Thiago Alcantara to keep the score unchanged at half time, then Napoli had their best chance after the restart as Kvhicha Kvaratskhelia picked Leo Ostigard in the box and the Norwegian defender beat Alisson Becker with a powerful header. Unfortunately for the Partenopei, he was caught offside.
Salah tapped the ball in from a Meret save on a Darwin Nunez header, then the Uruguayan striker scored the second one for Liverpool just before full time. But Napoli’s first place in the group never appeared at risk.
MATCH SCORECARD
November 1, 2022 – Champions 2022-2023 Group A
LIVERPOOL – NAPOLI 2-0
SCORERS: 84′ Salah, 96′ Nunez
 |
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander Arnold (87′ Ramsay), Van Dijk, Konatè, Tsimikas; Thiago Alcantara (87′ Bajcetic), Fabinho, Milner (48′ Elliott); Salah, Roberto Firmino (87′ Carvalho), Jones (73′ Nunez) (Adrian, Kelleher, Gomez, Robertson, Phillips) Coach: Klopp |
 |
NAPOLI (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Ostigard, Kim Min-jae, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka (83′ Zielinski), Ndombele (88′ Raspadori); Politano (70′ Lozano), Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia (83′ Elmas) (Idasiak, Sirigu, Juan Jesus, Mario Rui, Simeone, Zerbin, Zanoli, Gaetano) Coach: Spalletti |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Konatè, Alexander Arnold, Nunez (L)
 |
Follow us on Google News for more updates on Serie A and Italian football |