Liverpool still have final hurdle to clear

LIVERPOOL’S Champions League progress will come down their final match after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Napoli.

Dejan Lovren’s second-half header cancelled out a contentious opener from Dries Mertens and means only a win in Austria will guarantee they top Group E.

While a draw will do in Salzburg, Jurgen Klopp’s 100th European fixture as a manager was not the occasion he would have liked.

All talk of the internal turmoil at Napoli was forgotten as soon as Liverpool failed in their bid to keep a first Anfield clean sheet of the campaign. The first half could hardly have gone worse for the defending champions, who lost Fabinho to an ankle problem and suffered another injury scare to Virgil van Dijk. While the defender was flat out in the centre-circle, Napoli exploited the space with Mertens sprinting clear to fire a shot past Alisson Becker from a narrow angle.

Questions were certainly being raised in the VAR booth as, having confirmed the check was complete and a goal had been scored, an announcement then stated they were subsequently checking for offside, which eventually brought a negative response.

Klopp gambled when he took off Joe Gomez, dropping Jordan Henderson into right-back and giving Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain his midfield spot, the England internationalist immediately curling a cross to the far post which Firmino headed wide.

Lovren’s effort was much better, rising above Napoli’s defence to plant a header into the top corner from James Milner’s corner.