Liverpool vs. Napoli result, highlights and analysis as Salah and Nunez clinch late win

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ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL — Liverpool were forced to settle for a second-placed finish in their Champions League group despite earning a confidence-boosting late win over Napoli.

An 85th-minute Mohamed Salah goal and an injury-time strike from Darwin Nunez decided a tight game at Anfield as the Reds fell short of the four-goal victory required to leapfrog their opponents.

Earlier, Napoli thought they had taken the lead only for Leo Ostigard’s header to be ruled out for a tight offside after a lengthy VAR check.

But Luciano Spalletti’s men showed enough to support claims that they will be a feared draw in the latter stages, while their hosts claimed a win that will do wonders for them ahead of a trip to Tottenham on Sunday.

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

Liverpool vs. Napoli result

  1H 2H Final
Liverpool 0 2 2
Napoli 0 0 0

Goals:
LIV: Salah (85th min)
LIV: Nunez (97th min)

Liverpool vs. Napoli as it happened, highlights

FULLTIME: All over at Anfield and though Liverpool didn’t do enough to overturn Napoli’s lead at the top of the Group A, that is an important win for their confidence.

The Reds now head to Tottenham on Sunday hoping they bring this form to the Premier League.

97th min: GOAL! Nunez has the ball in the back of the net after a Meret spill from a Van Dijk header but he looks to have strayed offside as the contact is made.

More VAR-based waiting for the crowd here… and the goal is given!

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90th min: Seven minutes to be added on courtesy of the earlier VAR check.

86th min: Calvin Ramsay now on for his Liverpool debut as part of a late triple sub alongside Fabio Carvalho and Stefan Bajcetic.

85th min: GOAL! Liverpool take the lead late!

Nunez heads Tsimikas’ corner delivery goalward and Meret can only spill into the path of Salah, who pokes it home.

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74th min: Darwin Nunez entering the fray in place of Curtis Jones – could the Uruguayan occupy this left-sided berth at Tottenham this weekend?

66th min: Lovely feet from Curtis Jones in the Napoli box but when he pulls back to Elliott the youngster can only smash the ball high and wide.

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.

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 USA Canada Australia
Date Tues, Nov. 1 Tues, Nov. 1 Tues, Nov. 1 Wed, Nov. 2
Time 20:00 GMT 16:00 ET 16:00 ET 07:00 AEDT
TV channel BT Sport 3 UniMas, TUDN — —
Streaming BT Sport app fuboTV, Paramount+, ViX+ DAZN Stan Sport

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. 

  UK
(Sky Bet)		 USA
(Caesars)		 Canada
(Sports Interaction)		 Australia
(Ladbrokes)
Liverpool Win 4/5 -111 -125 1.80
Draw 3/1 +295 +303 3.80
Napoli Win 29/10 +255 +272 4.00
Over 2.5 Goals 1/2 -190 -200 1.50
Both Teams to Score 4/9 -190 -217 1.50
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