Group A of the Champions League was one of the first to be decided. Liverpool and Napoli went into Tuesday's match with their qualification to the last 16 assured, leaving it to be decided who would qualify first. The English side won on the hour, but it was not enough to secure top spot. Napoli has been one of the big surprises of this Champions League. Luciano Spalletti's side won their first five games, surprisingly beating each of their Group A opponents.
The Italians had not yet secured top spot. The team could only lose first place if they lost by a landslide at Anfield. The match at the Diego Armando Maradona ended in a 4-1 home win. It was an extremely tight game in England, with neither side having any clear-cut chances to score. The only clear chance for the visitors came from Leo Östigard in the 53rd minute. The central defender had given the visitors the lead with a header, but the goal was disallowed for a millimetre offside.
He doesn't perform like Salah but he has more luxury than Mbappe and Neymar
Mané's departure was Kloop's worst mistake but he wants to remedy it this way
When it looked like it was all going to end goalless, Liverpool had a goal in the 85th minute. From a corner kick, Darwin Núñez headed the ball into the net, but Alex Meret stopped the shot on the line. The Italian goalkeeper failed to hold the rebound and Mohamed Salah made no mistake. In the closing seconds, the Reds got their second, once again from a corner. This time, it was Virgil Van Dijk who headed home to force Meret into action. The goalkeeper left the rebound for Darwin Núñez to head over the line.
In a meeting of giants, it was Jürgen Klopp's side who took the final game, although it was of little use as they will remain in second place in Group A, although it serves as an incentive for next season. After the game had looked even throughout, Napoli took the lead through Østigård's goal, but the VAR disallowed the goal for a millimetre offside. The Reds took the lead in the 83rd minute, with Mohamed Salah taking advantage of a mistake by goalkeeper Meret to push the ball home. The second goal came in the 99th minute, when Luis Díaz got the second goal, which came with the help of the VAR, after a previous offside.
While Salah was Liverpool's star performer because in addition to scoring the goal he had several dangerous chances, others of his team-mates did not help him and even got in his way. Firmino was far from his best performance and had little to show for it. Fabinho again had a poor game and was the player who was shouted at the most by manager Jürgen Klopp.
21/12/2024
21/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
20/12/2024
19/12/2024
19/12/2024