MY ACCOUNT
Luciano Spalletti acknowledged Napoli’s 4-1 Champions League hammering of Liverpool will cause a “stir” as he urged his players to deliver again after laying down a benchmark.
Goals from Piotr Zielinski, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Giovanni Simeone sent Napoli in 3-0 up at half-time, though it could have been four if Victor Osimhen’s penalty was not saved by Alisson.
That marked just the fourth occasion Liverpool have found themselves three goals down at the interval in the Champions League, with Zielinski adding a fourth soon after the break.
Luis Diaz curled in a fine curling effort to reduce the deficit, but the Reds never recovered from a toothless showing as they fell to their joint-heaviest defeat in the competition.
Napoli are also unbeaten in their last nine Champions League home matches (W6 D3), scoring 20 goals and conceding just five in this spell – which includes three wins over Liverpool.
With an impressive showing in UEFA’s flagship club competition, Spalletti suggested his side have placed a marker for their performances and must seize the initiative after a memorable victory.
“It is an important result because the measures are always taken based on who the opponent is, and they are called Liverpool so the result will cause a bit of a stir,” coach Spalletti told Amazon Prime Video.
“What becomes fundamental is to play the football we know how to do and follow it up for 95 minutes, without going in flashes, that highlights the level of personality.”
Asked if the victory served as a lesson for what Napoli could achieve, Spalletti added: “No lessons, no presumption, no arrogance.
“When you play for Napoli you have to do this every day. We played a good game, now let’s think about Spezia.”
Napoli will look to capitalise on the impetus from their victory over Liverpool when they host Spezia on Saturday before facing Rangers, who were smashed 4-0 by Ajax in Wednesday’s other Group A game.
