Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he was shocked by Napoli’s game approach in the one-all draw against his side on Wednesday afternoon at the Anfield.
Dejan Lovren canceled out a Dries Mertens opener for Napoli to ensure that the two sides shared the spoils in a crunch Group E clash and in the process blew the group wide open.
The Reds, Napoli and RB Salzburg all have a chance of making it to the round of 16 ahead of final matchday. Liverpool leads the group with ten points, Napoli is second with nine while Salzburg is third with 7. Klopp’s men will be away in Austria in matchday 6 while Napoli will host Genk.
Reflecting on the one-all draw against Napoli, the German tactician said he did not expect the Italian side to be very defensive in their match approach.
“What caused us the most problems was that they scored that goal and could defend as they defended. I think Napoli usually plays a different kind of football and are much more offensive,” he said.
He further stated that Carlo Ancelotti’s men taking the lead first made it difficult for his side.
“They were tonight in a defending and counter-attacking mood and that’s never easy; when a team with the quality of Napoli chooses such an approach it makes life difficult. They would have changed probably if we would have been 1-0 up, that would maybe have been a different game, we don’t know. That’s it.