A late double saw Liverpool end Napoli’s 21-game unbeaten run to finish second behind the Serie A leaders in Champions League Group A. Jake Mahon reports from Anfield.
Liverpool bounced back from their disappointing loss to Leeds United by beating an in-form Napoli side 2-0 in the Champions League, thanks to late goals from Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez.
While there was little to play for due to both teams already being qualified for the knockout stages of the competition, a win against a team who are currently Serie A league leaders should go some way to injecting confidence into this Liverpool team.
It was a quiet game in terms of goalscoring opportunities, with the only major chances coming by way of Leo Ostigard’s second half header that was ruled out by VAR for offside before Salah and Nunez secured the win in the 85th and 97th minutes respectively.
Jurgen Klopp’s men had a chance to open the scoring in the 4th minute after Salah sliced the Napoli defence open with a through ball to Curtis Jones, but the 21-year-old was unable to beat the onrushing Alex Meret, who covered his goal well.
From here, it was a largely uneventful first half, with a distinct lack of opportunities for either side until around the half-hour mark.
It appeared Liverpool had gone behind in the 57th minute when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia whipped in a fantastic free-kick that was headed home by Ostigard.
Thankfully for Klopp’s side, the goal was ruled out after a lengthy VAR check confirmed that the centre-back was in an offside position when the ball was played in.
It seemed as if the game was destined to peter out into a 0-0 draw, with neither side creating a great deal of chances after the break.
However, the hosts looked to have snatched it just five minutes from full-time when Salah forced the ball in from around a yard out after Meret failed to deal with a header from substitute Nunez.
The Reds then doubled their lead in the last action of the game when Meret once again was unable to deal with a header. This time, the keeper spilled Virgil Van Dijk’s effort into the path of an onrushing Nunez, who secured the points deep into injury time.
Next up for Liverpool is a trip to the capital as they face off against Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur who themselves left it late in Marseille to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage tonight.
