Liverpool will not deserve a place in the knockout stage of the Champions League should they fail to defeat Napoli in the crucial Group C decider at Anfield, James Milner has said.
Liverpool must beat the Italian side 1-0 or by two goals on 11 December having missed an opportunity to qualify at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday. The 2-1 defeat at Parc des Princes leaves Liverpool at risk of slipping into the Europa League – or even finishing bottom of Group C – seven months after reaching the Champions League final.
Milner maintains the predicament does not worry Liverpool, but says there will be no excuses for elimination should Napoli emerge from Anfield unscathed. “I don’t think that’s crossed anyone’s mind,” the midfielder said about failing to qualify. “Our aim is to get out of the group: get the result and get through. If we don’t do that we don’t deserve to be in the Champions League and we’ll take whatever happens from there – Europa League or whatever.
“We’re just focused on getting through the group. If you can’t win your home games in the Champions League then you don’t deserve to go through. I’m not concerned, we’ve played pretty well this season.”
Liverpool’s home form is a stark contrast to their away performances in Europe this season, where they have suffered defeat in all three Champions League group fixtures for the first time and registered five shots on target in total – including Milner’s successful penalty in Paris. They have a 100% success rate at home, scoring seven goals in victories over PSG and Red Star Belgrade, and Milner is confident the record will remain intact post-Napoli.
He added: “Red Star, we didn’t play well; Napoli, we conceded in the last minute. In Paris, we didn’t start well in the first 10 minutes but after that it was a pretty even game and we had chances to win it.
“There are a lot of differences in European football: the style of play, teams building up slower, midweek games – there’s a lot that goes into it. We’re not that experienced in the Champions League. We had a good run last year and that will definitely help us but we got through in the final group game last year and look where we ended up.
“You don’t see any of the lads panicking, we are comfortable we can go and finish the job at home.”
Virgil van Dijk has said Liverpool have not morphed from Champions League finalists to strugglers inside six months because of the quality of their play but the calibre of their group opponents.
Liverpool will be eliminated should they fail to beat Napoli 1-0 or by two clear goals at Anfield on 11 December, having lost all three away games in the Champions League group stage for the first time. Their latest defeat and poor away display came at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday and Van Dijk, while admitting Liverpool performed badly at Red Star Belgrade, insists the quality in Group C has been a major influence on the team’s failure to recreate last season’s form in Europe.
The Netherlands captain said: “We don’t need to forget that we played Napoli, one of the best teams in Europe; PSG, one of the favourites to win the Champions League; and obviously the game in Belgrade was not good enough. We don’t need to think we are a shit team, basically. It can happen.
“But the frustrating thing is how we conceded the goals and then it’s always difficult to come back. I don’t know if there’s any explanation for that right now because I can’t think of one – otherwise we should have used it already. But now we need to look forward and the only option for us to qualify is to win against Napoli, no matter what.”
Van Dijk echoed Jürgen Klopp’s view that gamesmanship from PSG players, who frequently went to ground claiming injury during their 2-1 victory, increased Liverpool’s frustration in Paris.
“Obviously they’re world-class players but I don’t think it’s needed in the game at times,” said the defender, who rounded on Neymar following a theatrical collapse in the penalty area. “Sometimes they get hit and they will go down and sometimes I think it’s too easy and I’m getting so frustrated.
“It’s important to keep your head cool but every time we made a foul they all came to the ref trying to get us a yellow card. We should do the same at times and I think in the second half we did it better. It’s not the type of game that I like. We still respect them how they are as players because they’re world-class but it’s not really necessary at times. But other than that, they scored two goals, we lost and that’s it.”
