Liverpool progressed to the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Napoli at Anfield on Tuesday night, thanks to Mohamed Salah’s lone strike in the first half.
Liverpool went into the game knowing that they had their fate in their own hands. A 1-0 victory was always going to be enough for the Reds to make it to the knockout stages and Jurgen Klopp’s men looked the dominant force for the entire ninety minutes.
The Reds started off brightly and set the visitors on the back foot with some well-crafted moves from the centre of the park, something that they lacked in their previous two defeats in the group stages at the hands of Red Star Belgrade and PSG.
Sadio Mane’s goal from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross was ruled offside, just the beginning of what was going to be an eventful night for the Senegalese international. Mohamed Salah had a great chance to open the scoring but he let himself down with his heavy first-touch.
However, the Egyptian wizard didn’t make any mistake the next time he got a sight of goal. Up against Kalidou Koulibaly inside the box, Salah beat the Senegalese giant with his clever turn of pace to guide the ball between the legs of David Ospina, putting the Reds in the driver’s seat 34 minutes into the game.
In all honesty, Liverpool had plenty of chances in the second half and the scoreline could easily have been 5-0 or 6-0. Salah once again missed a sitter from close range while Virgil van Dijk failed to keep his effort on target.
Andrew Robertson’s cross from the left found Mane in a one-on-one position with only Ospina to beat but the Senegalese talisman squandered the chance, firing his shot straight at the goalkeeper’s legs.
Georginio Wijnaldum set Salah free down the left and the Egyptian’s pull-back into the box found Mane once again who fired his shot surprisingly over the bar from close range.
The game heated up in the last fifteen minutes and Napoli had a sight of goal but Jose Callejon failed to connect with Lorenzo Insigne’s cross from the left which was missed by Robertson.
However, the Italians had their best chance in injury time when the ball fell kindly for Arkadiusz Milik inside the box, only to be denied by Alisson Becker’s heroics. Sadio Mane capped off a bizarre night of missed chances with another instance of poor finishing, firing his shot wide of the post from a one-on-one situation.
The 1-1 draw was enough to see Jurgen Klopp’s men through as the Reds qualified as the runners-up of Group C behind toppers PSG who beat Red Star Belgrade 4-1.