UEFA Champions League
Result: Napoli 2-0 Liverpool
Date: 17 September 2019
Venue: Stadio San Paolo
Liverpool began the defence of their UEFA Champions League title with a 2-0 loss away to Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli on Tuesday evening.
Roberto Firmino passed a late fitness test to join Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in the fearsome front-three for the Reds, while Kostas Manolas made his Champions League debut alongside Kalidou Koulibaly in the heart of the Partenopei defence. The sides were attacking each other with pace in the early stages but Jurgen Klopp's army had a better clear chance in the 21st minute after Mane was given space inside the box to aim at goal, but his strike was kept out by goalkeeper Alex Meret. However, the reigning champions picked their moments after the half-hour mark, preferring to sit back and keep their shape at the back as Carlo Ancelotti's men were unable to turm their defence in that mode. On the stroke of halftime, Firmino almost broke the deadlock with a free-header in the the box that sailed past the post by a whisker. Liverpool were under siege early in the second-half and were saved five minutes after the break by shot-stopper Adrian, who denied Dries Mertens the breakthrough from close range with a superb finger-tip save at the far post. Salah almost silenced the home crowd in the 65th miinute after going clear on goal on the left side of the box but his fierce diagonal shot towards the bottom corner was parried away by Meret. There was controversy in the last ten minutes as Napoli were awarded a penalty after Jose Callejon was brought down by Andrew Robertson, which allowed Mertens to convert from the spot to hand the home side the lead. Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Fernando Llorente grabbed the second goal for Ancelotti's men in second-half stoppage time as the Serie A outfit walked away the spoils on matchday one. Group H: Chelsea 0-1 Valencia
Chelsea got their campaign in Group H off to a losing start after going down 1-0 to Valencia at Stamford Bridge. After a scoreless first half, Rodrigo opened the scoring for the LaLiga outfit in the 74th minute from a well-worked free-kick. The Blues were awarded a penalty with three minutes remaining, but substitute Ross Barkley struck the crossbar from 12-yards out. Other results:
Ajax Amsterdam 3-0 Lille Benfica 1-2 RB Leipzig Salzburg 6-2 Genk
