‘Life saver’ Alisson, Salah strike take Liverpool into last 16
LIVERPOOL: Goalkeeper Alisson Becker was labelled a ‘life saver’ by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp for a last-gasp save that secured a 1- 0 win over Napoli at Anfield and progress to the last 16 of the Champions League.
Mohamed Salah’s stunning solo effort put the hosts in front 11 minutes before half-time, but Liverpool were nearly made to pay for their profligacy in missing a series of second-half chances.
Alisson had barely been tested until the Brazilian number one spread himself brilliantly to deny Arkadiusz Milik a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser and go a long way to justifying the thenworld record 67-million fee for a goalkeeper Liverpool paid Roma in July.
“If I knew Alisson was this good – I would have paid double,” joked Klopp.
“The goal Mo scored, what a goal! And the save Ali made (was) unbelievable.
It was of course a life saver tonight.”
Despite losing all three of their away games in Group C, three home wins at fortress Anfield were enough to see Liverpool through to the knockout stage on goals scored over the Italians in second place behind Paris SaintGermain, who won 4-1 away to Red Star Belgrade to secure top spot.
“I’m still full of adrenaline, I could feel it in bubbles,” added Klopp.
“This game was just amazing. The boys played with their whole heart on the pitch.” Liverpool’s charge to the Champions League final last season was spearheaded by Salah’s 44-goal season.
And after signalling his return to top form by scoring a hat-trick in a 4- 0 win at Bournemouth on Saturday that sent Liverpool to the top of the Premier League, Salah’s 13th goal of the campaign relegated Napoli to the Europa League in the new year despite losing for the first time in Europe this season.
“It’s a real shame our efforts haven’t been rewarded,” said Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti.
“We have no regrets. Overall the group of players have done extremely well, we took it down to the wire.
“You can’t expect to come to Liverpool and create 10 really good chances, we had one or two and didn’t have the luck to take one of them.”
The outcome could have been very different if Virgil van Dijk had been sent off rather than just shown a yellow card that will keep him out of the first leg of Liverpool’s last-16 tie for a dangerous lunge on Dries Mertens after just 15 minutes.
UEFA will introduce the video assistant referee ( VAR) system for the last 16, but Ancelotti bemoaned the delay in using the technology during the group stage. — AFP