Liverpool join Napoli in last 16 defeating impressive Salzburg

Champions Liverpool made it through to the knockout stages of the Champions League with a hard-fought win over Salzburg in Austria.

In a first-half that somehow ended scoreless, Liverpool were drawn into a game of all-out attack, with Salzburg countering and Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren just managing to deal with wonderkid Erling Braut Haland and the excellent Takumi Minamino.

Mohamed Salah missed a series of chances in a game that Liverpool could not lose as in Group E's other game, Napoli had eased to three goal lead over Genk. But after the break it was the two former Salzburg stars who combined, with Sadio Mané picking out Naby Keita for the game’s opener.

And just a minute later, a wasteful Salah somehow scored his most difficult chance of the game, finding the net after drawing out the goalkeeper, despite being on the by-line when he took his shot.

The result means Liverpool finish top in Group E and will face a second placed team, while Napoli finish runners-up after an easy 4-0 win over Genk that saw an Arkadiusz Milik hat-trick.

Meanwhile, Europa League teams beware: Haland is on his way...

©Getty / MB Media

🇦🇹 Sadio Mané and Naby Keita for Red Bull Salzburg:

🇸🇳Mané
2012-2015
84 appearances
44 goals

🇬🇳Keita
2014-2016
75 appearances
19 goals#SALLIV pic.twitter.com/rabOnMIcw7

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) December 10, 2019