By Betsefy
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has claimed that he currently “couldn’t care” about who his side face in the last-16 of the Champions League following their 2-0 win over Napoli.
The Reds had already sealed a place in the knockout rounds prior to Tuesday’s game and simply set out to avenge the 4-1 thumping they suffered at the hands of the Partenopei earlier in Group A.
Victory by four or more goals would have seen Liverpool pip the Serie A leaders to top spot, but the Reds accepted a second-placed finish after securing a hard-earned triumph by two goals to nil.
Late strikes from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah saw Liverpool bounce back in perfect fashion after their 29-game Premier League unbeaten run at Anfield was ended by Leeds United at the weekend.
Liverpool will learn their last-16 opponents in Monday’s draw, but Klopp does not have a specific opponent in mind for the knockout rounds, and he insisted that he had “no regrets” from tonight’s game.
“We are not in dreamland. I couldn’t care in the moment, really. I can wait until Monday,” Klopp said when questioned on his preferred last-16 opponents.
“I don’t regret anything tonight, that we didn’t go for the third and the fourth goal. That’s not the case. We had the worst possible start into this group with a very bad game against Napoli; maybe we helped Napoli a little bit with our performance [so] they got all the confidence they needed and show now in the league in Italy.
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“It’s the third time we have the last game against Napoli in the group stage, if I am right. Usually our situation was different, we needed a point or had to win or whatever. Both times it worked out for us and tonight it worked out as well, but Napoli deserve the first place in the group. No regrets.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s battle with Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was a major talking point before the contest, with the former coming under heavy criticism defensively and the Georgian attacker enjoying a stellar start to life in Italy.
Alexander-Arnold was nutmegged by Kvaratskhelia with only two minutes on the clock, but Klopp believes that the England right-back played a good game against the Napoli man.
“He [Kvaratskhelia] is a good player. Both are good players, so it’s a really difficult one. I know people will talk about one or two situations when Trent tried to be in front of him and the ball goes through,” Klopp added.
“But he is really good, the boy, and really quick and you have to defend him together in these moments. When he has the advantage of the first movement then he is already gone.
“You have to try to be there in the moment when the ball arrives, but if you cannot do that then you need to be protected because he has speed, he is cheeky, he goes inside, he can go outside, that makes it always really difficult.
“A good player and I thought Trent played a really good game against him, he was really on fire, he was really in, didn’t get frustrated by one or two situations where he was second-best, stayed in the game and I liked Trent’s game tonight.”
Liverpool will aim to build on Tuesday’s Champions League win when they resume Premier League duties away to Tottenham Hotspur – who beat Marseille 2-1 right at the death to qualify for the last-16 – on Sunday afternoon.
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