IT’S SWEAT SIXTEEN
Magic Mo sends Liverpool through.. but nervy Reds need brilliant late save from Alisson to clinch it
THERE was no smile, no airpunch, no dance, just a knowing look.
Mo Salah knew. Mo Salah knew he had made the difference again, knew his class had told, knew his brilliance remains undimmed.
In his last game at Anfield, he trudged off glumly, indignant at being hooked from the Merseyside derby.
Since then, his riposte has included a hat-trick on the south coast and, now, the beauty that takes Liverpool north in the Champions League.
Cometh the moment, cometh the Mo.
The only surprise was this remarkable player did not complement his first-half strike and head off the nervous finale Anfield had to endure.
Instead, there was the odd anxious moment as Liverpool edged towards the knockout stages but this was a fullydeserved win against a team of no little quality.
It was clear from the moment Marek Hamsik made his first foray into Virgil van Dijk’s territory that this Napoli team was not here purely to spoil.
Carlo Ancelotti, just like his predecessor Maurizio Sarri, runs a slick operation and the move that led to Hamsik’s strike scaring the crossbar was typically fluent.
This was never going to be a comfortable night for Van Dijk and his colleagues and the Dutchman, in particular, had an unusually uneasy start to proceedings.
As misplaced outrage goes, the howling at his early yellow card takes some beating. It could be argued referee Damir Skomina actually showed a touch of leniency when only cautioning Van Dijk for his studs-up, sliding hit on Dries Mertens (right).
That the ball was cleaned out with the striker is irrelevant.
A Liverpool lead looked as formality when Andrew Robertson persuaded a peach of a cross on to Salah’s instep.
But Salah went for control rather than first-time hit and succeeded only in feathering it to David Ospina.
Suitable amends were soon made with a goal that was Salah to its slaloming core.
After hoodwinking Mario Rui, he then feinted past
Kalidou Koulibaly as if the Senegalese defender was more mannequin than £90millionrated defender.
The last Napoli man to be embarrassed was Ospina, legs akimbo for the right-footed, nutmegged finish.
And when he shimmied into prime Salah scoring position early in the second half, a doubling of the advantage seemed inevitable but, even with his magical left, he hooked his effort into the side-netting.
The unexpected miss ensured Liverpool nerves would remain exposed but Napoli’s sense of adventure seemed to shrink rather than expand.
Yet, thanks to squandered opportunities for Van Dijk, James Milner and Sadio Mane, Napoli hope still burned in the game’s dying embers.
Jose Callejon put one into the Ultras in a rare moment of home alarm while Alisson had to save at point-blank range from Arkadiusz Milik.
But they held on and, thanks to the unsmiling Salah, they walk on.