Liverpool bounced back from defeat against Leeds United with a hard-fought 2-0 victory against Napoli, but it did not stop the Serie A side from finishing top of their Champions League group.
Mohamed Salah poked home from close range in the 85th minute while Darwin Nunez added another late on to give Jurgen Klopp’s side a crucial win following their 2-1 loss against Leeds at the weekend — although Liverpool failed to beat Napoli by the four goals or more they needed to win the group.
Earlier, Napoli thought they had taken the lead only for Leo Ostigard’s header to be ruled out for a tight offside after a lengthy VAR check.
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But Luciano Spalletti’s men showed enough to support claims that they will be a feared draw in the latter stages, while their hosts managed a win that will do wonders for them ahead of a trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
58 – Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp became the seventh manager to take charge of 100+ UEFA Champions League games, while only Pep Guardiola (61) has more wins from his first 100 games in charge in the competition than Klopp (58). Elite. pic.twitter.com/kg2TzqRmqL
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 1, 2022
For Liverpool, it was a far more positive night at Anfield than Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Leeds in the Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp was delighted with how Liverpool restricted such a free-scoring team like Napoli.
He said: “I would have enjoyed the game even without the goals but they are important stuff. We showed a really good reaction. Being compact makes all the difference. All of a sudden we have the challenges in the right spaces and we are difficult to play against.