Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool head to Italy to play Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli on Wednesday night. Liverpool top Group C with three points while Napoli sit second on one point. Ancelotti’s side played out a nil-nil draw against Red Star Belgrade on matchday 1.
Meanwhile, Liverpool played out an exciting 3-2 match with Paris Saint-Germain. A win for Liverpool will solidify their place at the top of Group C. Napoli desperately need to win to keep pace with the Reds and PSG – as it is expected the Parisians will defeat Red Star in their meeting.
Ancelotti has plenty of experience playing Liverpool. It was Ancelotti’s AC Milan that lost to Liverpool in the 2005 Champions league Final in Istanbul. Two years later, Milan exacted revenge and won the competition’s final in Rome. The manager’s team go into Wednesday night’s clash following a 3-1 loss to Serie A rivals Juventus. The Italians took an early lead through Dries Mertens only to surrender it with three unanswered goals. Ancelotti criticised his team’s performance following the loss.
Liverpool, on the other hand, drew with Premier League title rivals Chelsea on Saturday. The back and forth thriller finished 1-1. The fixture showed just how strong both sides are this term, and Liverpool will hope they can continue their great run of form this term.
Klopp will have some difficult decisions to make ahead of their meeting with Napoli. Daniel Sturridge has scored two goals in his last two matches. Sturridge has been perfect off the bench, but his play does warrant a start over forward Roberto Firmino. The latter has scored three goals in eight games while Sturridge has tallied five strikes in eight games. Including a goal against PSG on Champions league matchday 1.
Napoli have no new injuries to worry about ahead of the fixture. Lorenzo Insigne has tallied five goals in Serie A this term while Arkadiusz Milik has scored three times. Both will be threats, but Liverpool’s defence has been improved. Liverpool’s defence has allowed just six goals in nine matches. The Reds’ potent attack has tallied 19 strikes in all competitions.
Like Ancelotti, Klopp has no new injuries to worry about. Both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana are long-term injuries and have missed all – or most – of the season.
Klopp has his best squad yet. Liverpool are able to defend and attack equally for the first time in a decade. Liverpool will defeat Napoli on Wednesday night and solidify their place atop Group C.