Jurgen Klopp is set to take charge of his 100th game in Europe tonight against Napoli, as Liverpool aim to reach the Champions League last 16.
Klopp’s European 100
Tonight Jurgen will manage in his 100th career European match.
His first six were with Mainz while this evening will see him equal the same number for the Reds as he achieved with Dortmund (47).
Of the previous 99, he has won 53, with 21 draws and 25 defeats, for a win ratio of 53.5 percent.
With Liverpool, he has won 27, drawn 10 and lost nine, for a win ratio of 58.7 percent.
The Italian Job
Liverpool will be through to the knockout stages if they beat Napoli, or if Salzburg do not beat Genk. Liverpool will clinch first place with a win.
Napoli will be through if they win at Anfield, or if Salzburg do not beat Genk.
The teams are meeting in the group stage for the second successive Champions League season. All three encounters have resulted in home victories with the away team failing to score in each fixture.
Last season’s clashes ended in 1-0 scorelines with Lorenzo Insigne and Mohamed Salah netting winners. In September, a Dries Mertens penalty on 82 minutes and a stoppage-time Fernando Llorente goal settled the match in the Stadio San Paolo.
They also met in the 2010/11 Europa League group stage with the teams drawing 0-0 in Italy before Liverpool won 3-1 at Anfield with Steven Gerrard scoring a 15-minute hat-trick.
In all games the Reds have won 14, drawn three and lost 12 of the 29 clashes with teams from Italy.
The Reds have met Italian clubs 12 times at Anfield, winning 8 while losing to Genoa (1992), Roma (2001), Fiorentina (2009) and Udinese (2012).
Liverpool have scored in 11 of those 12 with Roma (2001) being the only team to keep a clean sheet.
Anfield Influence
The Reds have lost two of the last 65 Anfield fixtures—both coming in domestic cups: to West Brom (FA Cup) and Chelsea (League Cup), both in 2018.
Including penalty shootouts they have won each of the last 17 home games in all matches since the goalless draw with Bayern Munich back in February.
It is two short of the club record set in 1972. They won 18 on the spin in 1985.
Napoli’s Record in England
This is the 10th time Napoli have been drawn against English clubs as well as Swansea City, who they faced in the Europa League in 2013/14.
In nine previous visits to England, Napoli have never won—drawing one and losing the other eight.
The draw came at Man City in 2011/12. They also drew 0-0 at Swansea. They have scored in only four previous visits and never more than once in a game.
In the nine trips to England plus the visit to Swansea they have drawn two and lost eight, scoring four times while conceding 20.
They have never scored more than once in a game on these shores.
Reunions
Kostas Manolas, Mohamed Salah and Alisson all played together while at Roma while Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly were Metz team-mates in 2011/12.
Georginio Wijnaldum and Dries Mertens both appeared for PSV Eindhoven (2011-13) as did Fabinho and Jose Callejon for Real Madrid in 2012/13.
Tonight’s Referee
The referee for this game is Carlos Del Cerro Grande of Spain.
He has never refereed the Reds before but took charge of Napoli’s 3-1 loss at Salzburg in last season’s Europa League Round of 16.
This Season’s Scorers
Liverpool: Mane 12, Salah 9, Firmino 4, Oxlade-Chamberlain 4, Milner 3, Origi 3, own goals 3, Matip 2, Robertson 2, Wijnaldum 2, Alexander-Arnold 1, Fabinho 1, Henderson 1, Hoever 1, Lallana 1, Van Dijk 1
Napoli: Mertens 7, Milik 5, Insigne 4, Llorente 3, Lozano 3, Manolas 2, Callejon 1, Di Lorenzo 1, Fabian Ruiz 1, Maksimovic 1
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