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It's a fresh instalment of the annual extravaganza that is the UEFA Champions League. The defending champions, Liverpool, got their campaign kickstarted with a familiar away trip to the San Paolo Stadium in Naples. Carlo Ancelloti's Napoli beat the Reds last time out, and tonight they served more of the same.
Napoli may have beaten Liverpool 2-0, but the scoreline wasn't a picture-perfect depiction of the evening's battle. The game was end to end, with some resolute defending as well as goalkeeping heroics thrown in the mix. There were also botched counter-attacks and startling misses on both ends of the pitch, with the attacking players holding nothing back.
In the end, Liverpool lost their first game in a long time, as Napoli ruthlessly made the best of their opportunities late in the game, with a Dries Merten strike from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute turning the tide in favour of Gli Azzuri before Fernando Llorente put the game beyond Liverpool's reach deep in stoppage time.
In this article, we try to make sense of the events at the San Paolo Stadium.
#3 Napoli's resolute defence
It was truly a defensive masterclass, as Napoli's defenders snuffed out wave after wave of Liverpool attack. Kalidou Koulobaly, in particular, was in imperious form, as he read the game intelligently and put an end to various Liverpool attempts to breach the Napoli defence.
Gil Azzuri's goalkeeper, Alex Meret, was also on song. The 22-year-old made a couple of great saves, crucially keeping Napoli in the game. In the 21st minute, he saved a low drive from Sadio Mane, as Henderson's chip beat the Napoli defence, falling kindly for the Senegalese international. He also thwarted Mohamed Salah and Mane in the 65th and 74th minutes respectively.
#2 Woeful Liverpool attack
The Liverpool attack was uncharacteristically off-colour today. Time and again they botched attacking manoeuvres, as they either misplaced final passes, shot off the mark, or were thwarted by the Napoli defensive guardians.
Napoli's defenders were on point today, however, blame also has to go to the Liverpool triumvirate for missing gilt-edged chances. A prime example of this was Liverpool's counter in the 55th minute, as Sadio Mane sprinted 60 yards only to overhit his pass to Mohamed Salah.
Salah also mishit a shot in the 59th minute, as Roberto Firmino played a chipped pass to him exquisitely. Liverpool's attackers will need to bring their A-game if they are to have any chance of defending their title efficiently.
#1 Controversial penalty decision
We love football for all the entertainment and drama it brings, and today the beautiful game once again served us a mouthful.
In a game most notably characterised by fine defending on both ends of the pitch, the deadlock was broken due to a controversial penalty decision in the 80th minute. Jose Callejon outfoxed Andrew Robertson in the box and the Scotsman tried to win the ball but seemingly took Callejon out instead.
The referee pointed to the spot, VAR ratified the decision, and Dries Mertens converted the spot-kick with aplomb.
Despite VAR's input on the matter, the penalty decision is debatable. However, kudos to Mertens for seizing the moment.
