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Dries Mertens scored a penalty in the 82nd minute and Fernando Llorente added a late score as Napoli defeated defending champion Liverpool 2-0 in their first Champions League group game on Tuesday.
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Jose Callejon fired the Serie A player after Liverpool defender Andy Robertson tripped him, allowing Mertens to convert with success.
Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian, who made his debut in the Champions League and had already made two strong saves, well guessed Mertens' attempt but could not keep the ball out of goal.
Llorente, came into play in the 69th minute, is relied on the rare mistake of Virgil van Dijk to line up Adrian for Napoli's second place in the evening.
Hirving Lozano was close behind at close range, but the goal was correctly dismissed before Sadio Mane forced the player to save Alex Meret and Roberto Firmino to take a wide header before the break.
Liverpool became the first holder of the defending title in the Champions League to lose their first match since AC Milan in 1994 and lost their last four games in the group stage.
"It should hurt because we had opportunities – it was an open match with a lot of counterattacks, but we did not finish them and that's a problem," Liverpool manager said. Jurgen Klopp at BT Sport after the match. "In the second half, it was a wild match, they ran and we ran.
Klopp also disagreed on the call that gave Napoli his first goal.
"I do not think it's a penalty, what can I say, for me, it's clear and obvious, no penalty," Klopp said. "[Callejon] jumps before any contact, we can not change that.
"We played a lot of football but we did not finish it, we controlled moments but we did not have enough opportunities." We made decisions that were not not good and have to accept the result.It is very often the last ball that was not right. "
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