Liverpool left humiliated in Napoli as Champions League campaign kicks off

Liverpool’s Champions League campaign got off to a nightmare start in Napoli last night as they suffered their joint worst Champions League defeat in their history, losing 4-1.

Jurgen Klopp’s Reds headed into the game hoping his team would be firing on all cylinders hoping to kick off their campaign on the right foot. Within 5 minutes the Reds found themselves 1-0 down after James Milner handled the ball and the referee pointed to the spot. Zielinski buried the penalty to the approval of the already noisy Napoleon fans.

Napoli had the opportunity to double their lead in the 15th minute as Osimhen was brought down by van Dijk, forcing the referee to consult VAR and point to the spot. Osimhen stepped up to take the penalty but Alisson was equal to it and the score stayed at 1-0.

Just 15 minutes later Zielinski was involved again as later as he stole the ball from Joe Gomez’s feet before slotting the ball through a stationary Liverpool defence. André-Frank Zambo Anguissa was on the receiving end of the ball and slotted the ball home off the near post.

Liverpool were once again ripped wide open just before halftime as Kvaratskhelia ran down the left flank before knocking the ball into Giovanni Simeone who just had to make contact on the ball to score.

Jurgen Klopp took Joe Gomez at halftime and replaced him with Joel Matip, hoping to steady the ship before his players returned out into the cauldron that is the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

Despite Liverpool’s best efforts Napoli were not finished yet and Zielinski found himself on the scoresheet once again having found and exploited another gap in Liverpool’s defensive line.

Liverpool pulled back what turned out to be a consolation goal through Luis Diaz as he blasted the ball into the bottom right corner just 2 minutes after Napoli’s 4th goal.

For the remainder of the game, Liverpool seemed to slightly lift themselves up but that was not enough to make another dent in the scoreline, and the game ended 4-1 – equalling Liverpool’s worst ever Champions League defeat.