By Daily Sports on September 18, 2019
Dries Mertens and Fernando Llorente scored late goals as Napoli defeated holders Liverpool 2-0 in Tuesday's opening round of Champions League group stage matches.
Mertens converted a penalty on 82 minutes and Llorente added a second in stoppage time as Napoli gained a measure of revenge for last season’s 1-0 loss at Anfield that denied the Italians a spot in the knockout rounds.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are the first reigning European champions to lose their opening game of the following campaign since AC Milan in 1994.
Both Liverpool, who sit top of the Premier League after five straight wins, and Napoli remain favourites to progress from Group E despite Salzburg’s thrilling 6-2 win over Genk.
Llorente joined Napoli this season after playing his last game for former club Tottenham in the Champions League final defeat by Liverpool in Madrid in June.
He came on as a substitute and pounced on a rare Virgil van Dijk blunder after Mertens had opened the scoring from the spot to pandemonium among the crowd at the Stadio San Paolo.
Liverpool also lost their group-stage match in Naples last season before going on to lift a sixth European Cup. (SuperSport)
•Photo shows Napoli players
Source Daily Sports
Posted September 18, 2019
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