Napoli vs Liverpool
Champions League 2019/20 season
Venue: Stadio San Paolo
Date: Tuesday 17th September, 2019
Kick-off time: 8pm BST
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will be hoping to avoid a feeling of déjà vu when he takes his side to face Napoli in their Champions League group stage opener.
The Reds go into the European campaign as holders after overcoming Tottenham in the final back in May but will be wary of the threat posed by Carlo Ancelotti's side.
The Partenopei edged a tight clash 1-0 here nearly 12 months ago which left Liverpool with a tough task to qualify before a 1-0 reverse at Anfield saw them progress.
Having won all five of their opening Premier League games, Klopp's men come into this match in devastating form and they will be itching to set things right at the San Paolo to keep their run going.
Team news and predicted lineup
Divock Origi limped off during the 3-1 win over Newcastle and is expected to miss the trip to Naples, with Rhian Brewster called up from the Under-23s to fly with the senior squad to Italy.
Aside from that, Klopp has nearly a full squad to select from although the German coach is unlikely to detract too far from his strongest line-up.
It remains to be seen whether Klopp will continue with Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back or deploy Joe Gomez instead.
For the visitors, Arkadiusz Milik could miss out through injury but Lorenzo Insigne is set to return after recovering from an injury problem.
Liverpool XI: Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Napoli XI: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Maksimovic, Koulibaly, Rui; Zielinski, Allan; Lozano, Fabian, Insigne; Mertens.
Prediction: Napoli 1-1 Liverpool
The Reds will know how tough it is to come to the San Paolo and take three points back to Merseyside with them after their defeat here last year.
It's fair to say that the Reds have improved since then and have been clinical in front of goal of late, scoring three goals in their last three games.
But Napoli are a tough side to beat on their day with the presence of Kalidou Koulibaly at the back and the talents of Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens up front. A score draw would be a favourable result for the Reds for the return fixture later in the competition.
Tickets
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Betting tips via Betfair | UK users only | Subject to change
Match odds
- Napoli to win: 2/1
- Draw: 5/2
- Liverpool to win: 11/8
First goal scorer
- Mohamed Salah: 9/2
- Roberto Firmino: 5/1
- Sadio Mane: 5/1
- Arkadiusz Milik: 11/2
TV channel and live stream information
The match will be televised live on BT Sport 2 and can be streamed live online via the BT app and website. Coverage starts at 7pm.
You can follow all the action and analysis on Standard Sport's LIVE blog with David Lynch in Naples.
Head to head (h2h) results and history
Liverpool and Napoli have met four times previous, most recently in last season's Champions League group stage.
Napoli won 1-0 in the Stadio San Paolo in October thanks to Lorenzo Insigne's injury-time winner before Mohamed Salah secured a return win by the same scoreline in December.
