Liverpool vs. Napoli live score, updates, highlights and lineups as Napoli opener ruled out

ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL — A game against Serie A leaders on a 13-match winning run is perhaps not the fixture Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp would have picked to follow up his side’s first home defeat of the season on Saturday.

Leeds United’s 89th-minute winner at Anfield was another painful moment in a stumbling campaign for Liverpool so far (9th in the Premier League) and a surprise on the heels of a 3-0 victory at Ajax that had earned the Reds a place in the Champions League Round of 16 with a game to spare.

Although they’ve qualified to the knockouts, Liverpool need to win by four goals if they are to finish top of the group and potentially secure a kinder knockout stage draw. A win would see Liverpool equal Napoli’s 15-point haul with overall goal difference in their two head-to-head group matches serving as the first tiebreaker. Napoli previously beat Liverpool 4-1 in September.

Follow The Sporting News’ live coverage of the game from Anfield below.

MORE: Liverpool lose at home to Leeds United in Premier League

Liverpool vs. Napoli live score

Goals:
 

Liverpool vs. Napoli updates, highlights

53rd min: Napoli denied an opener after a lengthy VAR check.

Ostigard is the scorer, stooping low to head in Kvaratskhelia’s free-kick delivery, but he is ultimately judged to have strayed offside.

47th min: An early blow for the hosts as James Milner signals his inability to continue – the Englishman is set to be replaced by Harvey Elliott.

46th min: Liverpool get the game restarted.

HALFTIME: All done for the first half here and the sides go in level. 

It hasn’t been a thriller by any means but both teams are playing some nice stuff and it’s clear that neither wants to suffer what would be an ultimately meaningless defeat.

43rd min: Jones slips Salah in behind for a one-on-one but the Egyptian can’t beat Meret and the flag goes up as the ball passes the post.

34th min: A few tasty challenges going in now and Spalletti is in the fourth official’s ear as the crowd gets up.

29th min: End-to-end stuff here as Ndombele brings a save out of Alisson before Liverpool sprint straight up the park for Thiago to test Meret.

This is a bit more like it!

18th min: Liverpool enjoying the best of these opening stages without creating any clear cut chances, but Napoli doing their best to create turnovers in dangerous areas with their energetic press.

This one nicely poised as things stand.

5th min: The first chance of the game goes to Liverpool as Salah slides a ball in behind for Jones, whose dinked finish goes just over the bar.

Nice football.

1st min: Napoli get us under way.

15 mins to KO: A cold evening here on Merseyside but the atmosphere is warming up nicely. If Liverpool can find anything close to their best here this could be some game.

40 mins to KO: Something of a surprise inclusion in the Napoli starting XI given his importance, it’ll be exciting to see how Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fares this evening.

He has been on fire so far this season and now has an opportunity to underline his brilliance at one of European football’s most iconic stadiums.

55 mins to KO: An update on one of tonight’s absentees.

Jordan Henderson left out of the Liverpool squad tonight as a precautionary measure. Trained individually yesterday and could have been available but Jurgen Klopp decided against taking any risk.

— David Lynch (@dmlynch) November 1, 2022

1 hour 20 mins to KO: The team news is in.

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, Fabinho, Milner, Thiago, Salah, Firmino, Jones.

Napoli: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Ostigard, Kim Min-Jae, Olivera, Ndombele, Lobotka, Anguissa, Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia.

1 hour 30 mins to KO: Napoli arrive on Merseyside having won their last 13 games in all competitions. No wonder Klopp called them “the form team of Europe”.

2 hours to KO: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of Liverpool vs. Napoli in the final round of games from Champions League Group A. The hosts know they need to win by four or more goals this evening if they are to progress as group winners, though Jurgen Klopp will surely be more concerned with simply arresting his side’s recent poor form after back-to-back defeats against teams in the Premier League relegation zone.

Liverpool vs. Napoli live stream, TV channel

UK: The match will be broadcast on BT Sport 3 and streamed on BT Sport platforms.

USA: The match will be televised on TUDN, Univision and UniMas, and those channels are streamed on fuboTV. Paramount+ will provide the English-language stream for subscribers.

Canada: Every Champions League game streams live on DAZN. 

Australia: Every Champions League game streams live on Stan Sport. 

Liverpool vs. Napoli lineups

Jurgen Klopp makes four changes to his line-up as Liverpool look to get back to winning ways against Napoli.

Ibrahima Konate and Kostas Tsimikas come into the defence, while James Milner is given a start in midfield. Curtis Jones is also included, though he appears to be starting on the left-hand side of a front three rather than in the centre of the park.

Liverpool lineup (4-3-3): Alisson (GK) — Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas — Milner, Fabinho, Thiago — Salah, Firmino, Jones

Subs: Kelleher, Adrian, Gomez, Elliott, Ramsay, Robertson, Nunez, Carvalho, Bajcetic, Phillips

With progression to the knockout stages as group winners all but assured, Luciano Spalletti has also mixed things up for his side’s trip to Anfield.

Hirving Lozano and Piotr Zielinski miss out, with Matteo Politano and Victor Ndombele coming in to replace them. However, key men Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia retain their places.

Napoli predicted lineup (4-3-3): Meret (GK) — Di Lorenzo, Kim, Ostigard, Olivera — Anguissa, Lobotka, Ndombele — Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia

Subs: Idasiak, Sirigu, Jesus, Rui, Elmas, Lozano, Simeone, Zieliński, Zerbin, Zanoli, Gaetano, Raspadori

MORE: Updated UEFA Champions League group standings

Liverpool vs. Napoli betting odds, prediction

At the end of an outstanding, free-scoring group stage, Napoli have the opportunity to become the first Italian club to win six group stage matches since the AC Milan side of 1992/93.

It would take a shrewd gambler to know how motivated either side will be for this game. Liverpool may want to preserve themselves for their trip to Tottenham on Sunday, while Napoli are away to the side directly behind them in the table, Atalanta, on Saturday.

Prediction: Given their current hot streak, the betting odds for a Napoli win are too good to pass up for our soccer betting expert.