Liverpool vs SSC Napoli Tickets

Only two teams, as of 2023, have won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League more often than Liverpool, and the Merseyside outfit are once again looking to add to their tally and will fancy their chances against Italian opposition in this entertaining clash.

Liverpool’s great history in the competition got underway after Bob Paisley took over from fellow legendary manager Bill Shankly. His predecessor didn’t manage to win the competition, but Paisley certainly achieved a great deal during his tenure.

They got their hands on the famous trophy for the first time in 1977 when they defeated Borussia Monchengladbach, and the following year, they won it again, this time edging out Belgian side Club Brugge.

1981 saw Paisley become the first manager to win the tournament on three occasions; this win was a hard-fought one over Real Madrid, with Alan Kennedy scoring the only goal of the game.

Paisley’s successor, Joe Fagan, guided Liverpool to two European Cup Finals in his two seasons in charge. He won the first of these, beating AS Roma on penalties at the Stadio Olimpico, but the second, a defeat to Juventus in Brussels, is sadly better remembered for the Heysel tragedy.

It would take another 20 years for the English side to collect their fifth crown, and when they did so, they did so in style.

Rafa Benitez, remarkably, in his first season at the Liverpool helm, saw off Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, and Chelsea in the knockout stages of the competition to set up a final with AC Milan.

45 minutes into the Istanbul clash, it looked as if the game was done and dusted. Paolo Maldini scored in the first minute, and Argentine forward Hernan Crespo scored twice to give Carlo Ancelotti’s side a seemingly unassailable lead.

Benitez and his skipper, Steven Gerrard, had other ideas. First, the England international netted early in the second half before Vladimir Smicer fired in a second from distance.

Gerrard was then felled to give Liverpool a penalty, with Xabi Alonso scoring the rebound to complete a remarkable comeback. Still, the job was not done. Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek pulled off a series of saves to keep the Premier League team in it, and in the penalty shoot-out, he saved twice more to give Benitez and Liverpool a fairytale ending.

2018/19 saw Liverpool collect their sixth success, doing so thanks to a comfortable win over Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid, with Jurgen Klopp’s side having completed an astonishing 4-0 win over Barcelona in the Semi-Finals to make up for their 3-0 loss at the Camp Nou.

Their opponents Napoli have rarely impressed in the European Cup or UEFA Champions League. With Diego Maradona as part of their set-up, they had two shots at success in the competition and were knocked out in the First Round in 1987/88 by Real Madrid and in the Second Round by Spartak Moscow in 1990/91.

A series of Round of 16 exits have followed since the formation of the UEFA Champions League, and in 2022/23, they finally reached the latter stages of the competition, where they were outdone by Italian rivals AC Milan 2-1 on aggregate, something of a surprise result given that Napoli easily won Serie A that season.

Liverpool vs SSC Napoli Head-to-Head

Liverpool and Napoli have met on a number of occasions in competitive European action, the first encounter taking place in the UEFA Europa League in 2010/11 in the group stage, with the first clash in Italy ending 0-0 and the game at Anfield resulting in a 3-1 win for the hosts.

Subsequently, the two teams have been drawn together in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League on three occasions, in 2018/19, 2019/20, and 2022/23. Over the course of these six games, the two sides have drawn on two occasions, and Napoli have won three times, with Liverpool victorious in two games.

Liverpool vs SSC Napoli Connections

A relatively few individuals have represented both clubs, with Pepe Reina and Andrea Dossena having played for both, while coach Rafa Benitez has been in charge of both teams during his lengthy managerial career.

Benitez took over as Liverpool boss in 2004 after a very successful spell in charge of Valencia. In his six years at Anfield, the Spaniard helped the team to a number of items of silverware, including a UEFA Champions League title, an FA Cup, and a UEFA Super Cup.

He left in June 2010 and took over at Inter Milan. By 2013 he had made his way to Naples, where he was in charge for just over two years. In his first campaign, he won the Coppa Italia, and the second saw Napoli get to the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Europa League before leaving to take over as Real Madrid manager, a post he held for just six months.