Liverpool made it into the next round of the Champions League with their 1-0 win over Napoli. The Reds had to leave it till the last game of the group to ensure qualification to the knockout round, and what a night it was.
Mohamed Salah got the only goal of the game in the first half, but Napoli had their chances. Sadio Mane was the culprit as we couldn’t make the game safe, and it almost cost us late on.
The Reds finished second in the group, but more importantly, we kept the momentum and head into the Manchester United tie full of confidence.
There were several fantastic players at Anfield, and here are our player ratings.
Alisson – 9/10
The Brazilian made a huge save in stoppage time to keep Arkadiusz Milik out. We would have given him a 10 but the keeper was barely troubled in the game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 7.5/10
The right-back had some great deliveries in the final third but was troubled a lot by the Napoli attackers in the night.
Virgil van Dijk – 8.5/10
Van Dijk was booked early on for a studs-up challenge but barring that, he was excellent at the back as he kept the Napoli attack in check.
Joel Matip – 8.5/10
This possibly was the best display by the Cameroon star since his move to Anfield. Matip was rarely flustered by the Napoli attack, and his passing was top-notch as well.
Andy Robertson – 7.5/10
The Scot didn’t have his best attacking game but some of his interceptions were important. There was one moment where he let the ball past him but Jose Callejon could not take advantage.
Georginio Wijnaldum – 7.5/10
The Dutch midfielder was a little slow to start, maybe it was the occasion, but he came into the game later on.
Jordan Henderson – 7/10
The captain didn’t have a great start to the game but came into prominence in the second half as we controlled the tie.
James Milner – 7.5/10
It was great seeing Milner make some dashes to break past the Napoli defence but the Englishman had to be subbed with a slight injury.
Mohamed Salah – 8.5/10
Salah was brilliant in the first half and his goal was a thing of beauty. He looked like he was going to cross but decided to slot the ball in between David Ospina’s legs. The Egyptian should have had a second but Ospina saved well.
Roberto Firmino – 7/10
Played as our striker in this game and took some time to adjust to Napoli’s defending. He did do well in the second half and was subbed off after running himself to the ground.
Sadio Mane – 6.5/10
Mane was frustrating in attack as he missed two clear-cut chances to score. Fortunately, the misses did not hurt us but the Senegal star needs to be more composed in front of the goal.
Substitutes
Naby Keita – 6/10
Came off the bench to give some energy and running to the side.
Fabinho – 6.5/10
The Brazilian provided some extra cover for the defence.
Read more: Liverpool interested in signing £15million-rated Premier League ace in January
Dejan Lovren – NA
Came on late in the late.
