Napoli Thrash Liverpool In Record-Equaling Champions League Result

Liverpool lost 4-1 to Napoli in their UEFA Champions League Group A opener. The result equaled Liverpool's heaviest ever defeat in the Champions League.

Liverpool got their 2022/23 UEFA Champions League campaign off to a nightmare start by losing 4-1 to Napoli in Italy on Wednesday.

Defensively, Liverpool were atrocious. Virgil van Dijk and James Milner conceded a penalty each inside the opening 17 minutes.

Piotr Zielinski scored the first before Victor Osimhen saw the second saved by Alisson Becker.

But that let-off did not inspire Liverpool to turn the match around. Far from it.

Virgil van Dijk (center) had a night to forget as Napoli thrashed Liverpool 4-1 :: IMAGO/Insidefoto/Andrea Staccioli

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Giovanni Simeone made it 3-0 to Napoli before half-time.

It was 4-0 seconds into the second period when Zielinski doubled his tally for the night.

Luis Diaz, one of the few Liverpool players to end the night with any credit, pulled a goal back for Jurgen Klopp's side but the comeback stopped there.

The result equaled Liverpool's heaviest ever defeat in the Champions League.

Liverpool's only other losses by a three-goal margin in the competition had come at the hands of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Elsewhere in Group A on Wednesday, Ajax beat Rangers 4-0 in Amsterdam.

Liverpool's Biggest Champions League Losses

Result	Year
Liverpool 0-3 Real Madrid	2014
Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool	2019
Napoli 4-1 Liverpool	2022

3 - Liverpool have suffered the heaviest defeat by an English Premier League side in their opening game of a UEFA Champions League campaign since Arsenal lost 3-0 to Internazionale in 2003-04 - tonight was the Reds’ joint-heaviest defeat overall in the competition. Chaotic. pic.twitter.com/L21tONvHde

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 7, 2022