Passage to the UEFA Champions League knockout stage is on the line when Napoli visits Liverpool FC on Tuesday night. The Serie A side only needs a draw to get through to the next round, but manager Carlo Ancelotti insists that his team won’t park the bus in this match.
His side currently leads Group C with nine points, while Liverpool is third with six points. Paris Saint-Germain in second with eight so the Reds will need a two-goal victory in order to ensure a place in the round of 16. A one-goal win for the Reds would then leave their fate up to PSG’s result over Red Star Belgrade, or various tiebreakers.
“We want to control the game. We are not used to playing defensively, we are not capable of doing it,” Ancelotti said as he promised his side will attack in this game.
“We will not park the bus in front of our goal. We believe we will get through: so far we have prepared a beautiful cake, now we must add the icing.”
In the same news conference, Ancelotti also referenced some of his prior glorious moments that were achieved at Anfield.
Expect a very electric atmosphere in northwest England Tuesday night, with fans keeping one eye on the scoreboard. Napoli-Liverpool and PSG-Red Star kick off at the same time, so none of the teams involved here will have an opportunity to know what their competition did, and thus adjust their tactics accordingly.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the chances of each team advancing are as follows: PSG 82%, Napoli: 68%, Liverpool: 50%.
The Reds will of course be without defender Joe Gomez, who could be sidelined for the next six weeks due to a lower leg fracture that he suffered in last week’s victory at Burnley.
Liverpool vs Napoli FYIs
Kick-off: 8pm (BST), Saturday December 11th, Anfield
Google Result Probability: Liverpool Win 60%, Draw 22%, Napoli Win 18%
Odds via Betway: Liverpool 3/5, Draw 16/5, Napoli 4/1
Liverpool Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Injury Report, Press Conference Videos and Quotes: go to this link
Prediction: Liverpool 4, Napoli 2
As always, feel free to post your own starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be. Enjoy the match!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.