Italians are led a merry dance by trio
JURGEN KLOPP put the band back together and watched the trio make some sweet music at Anfield.
Napoli spent most of the game dancing to the tune of Mo Salah, who continues to conduct the group around him with panache and precision.
Salah on his own is capable of destroying defences. Even ones containing Kalidou Koulibaly, who is a £90m target for some of Europe’s biggest clubs. But throw in a supporting cast including Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino and Liverpool can look unstoppable at times.
With Christmas fast approaching, it seemed fitting that Klopp reunited his three wise men in attack and saw them come bearing gifts.
Firmino (inset) is the perfect foil for those around him with his intelligent link-up play and quick mind.
Mane returned to the starting XI after finding himself on the bench for last weekend’s thumping win at Bournemouth and joined his friends in rising to the occasion.
The Senegal sensation had the ball in the back of the net on 21 minutes, but it was ruled out for offside.
Salah also wasted a glorious chance following Andy Robertson’s sumptuous cross but the clear threat to Napoli was laid down from the start on what promised to be one of those memorable European nights.
Even the omens appeared to be on the side of the Reds. It was 14 years to the night that Steven Gerrard scored one of the most famous goals of all at Anfield.
His late strike against Olympiakos was enough to secure the 3-1 win the Reds needed to go through to the knockout stages. The rest, of course, is history. Gerrard continued to carry his side all the way to that famous comeback against AC Milan in the final in Istanbul.
Carlo Ancelotti was in charge of Milan that night. Fast forward to 2018 and once again the Italian veteran stood in the way of his old rivals.
The Reds were unbeaten in their last nine Champions League games at Anfield.
The last home defeat came in October 2014, when Ancelotti just happened to be in charge of Real Madrid.
But even the wily old tactics of Ancelotti struggled to keep Salah and his pals quiet.
With a wall of noise hurtling down from the Kop, there was almost no need for Klopp to wave his arms around to gee up the home crowd. Such histrionics didn’t seem to matter when Salah pounced to break the deadlock on 34 minutes.
It wasn’t quite a Gerrard moment, but the significance of it felt similar as the Reds looked to take a giant stride towards the knockout stages.
Salah brushed the post on 50 minutes and Firmino headed straight at David Ospina moments later, while Mane continued to pull defenders from pillar to post with intelligent runs.
Salah then rounded Ospina on 75 minutes, only to see him scuttle back to claw away his looping shot.
Italian defences get the runaround like this about as often as the Reds win league titles, but on this evidence it seems that times are changing.
JEREMY CROSS