Champions League: Napoli hold Liverpool 1-1 at Anfield

Napoli hold Liverpool in a closely fought 1-1 draw, in what was a frustrating evening for the European champions at Anfield.

Goals from Napoli forward Dries Mertens and Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren settled a hard-fought draw between the two sides.

Napoli opened the scoring as Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk fell to the ground after competing for the ball, and an over the top ball played in Mertens who fired the ball past Alisson.

Liverpool only managed to get 5 of their 15 attempts on target, which proves the home side struggled to open the visitors defence as they have been doing so of late.

The goal was Napoli's only shot on target, which shows how lackluster they were going forward themselves.

The away side struggled to get going in the second half and Liverpool made them pay the price with a Lovren header-the Croatian towered over Mertens and headered the ball into the top left corner of the goal…quite the mismatch.

Liverpool midfielder Fabinho was rushed off the pitch in the 19th minute, and since his substitution with Wijnaldum, Liverpool struggled to play at their usual tempo for the rest of the evening.

Napoli’s press was superb in the opening half and gave the home team no breathing space on the pitch, however the Italian side tired as the game grew and Liverpool improved and piled on the pressure in the second half, but it was too little too late.

Liverpool’s front three showed glimpses of their usual excellence, but none of them impacted the game as they would’ve liked to.

Liverpool return to Anfield in the Premier League as they face Brighton on Saturday and Napoli face Bologna at home as well.

Man of the Match: Dejan Lovren (Liverpool)

The home side’s goal scorer earned the title after showing desire to tower over his marker (even if he is 5’4”) and get his side back into the game.

He couldn’t do much to prevent Mertens running into the gap after his partner Virgil van Dijk fell to the ground, but when called to, he was solid for ‘The Reds’.

The 30-year-old defender achieved a passing accuracy of 97.7% and won 4 aerial battles throughout the match, plus managed to get himself 100% shooting accuracy too!