London, England — (Reuters) On Tuesday, Liverpool defeated Napoli 2-0 thanks to late goals from Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Italians from winning Group A of the Champions League.
Both clubs had already qualified for the knockout stage, but Liverpool needed to defeat Napoli by four goals or more to top the group and get a potentially friendlier opponent in the round of 16.
The game picked up early in the second when Leo Ostigard believed he had placed Napoli in ahead, only for his header to be ruled offside after a VAR assessment, giving the game its first real momentum of the half.
With nothing to lose and the top spot already secured, Liverpool at least managed to win the game. Salah scored the game-winning goal five minutes from time at the far post, and Nunez added a second in stoppage time.
In the end, Napoli’s 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool in their group opener in September proved to be decisive as they finished with 15 points, a point more than Liverpool, but with a stronger goal differential in their meetings.
Liverpool wins thanks to Salah and Nunez, but Napoli still takes first place.
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