UEFA Champions League 2018/19: How Napoli’s back three aided victory against Liverpool

Group C in this season’s Champions League features two of the tournament favourites in French Champions Paris Saint-Germain and last year’s beaten finalists Liverpool. It’s an uphill task for Serie A’s runner-up and biggest entertainers from last season, Napoli to qualify from the group and an opening game 0-0 draw with group minnows Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) was certainly not welcome.

But ahead of their home fixture against the English side, Napoli knew that a win against Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool would put them firmly back on track to qualify for the knock-out rounds. Liverpool sat top of Group C after the first round of games, having beaten PSG 3-2 at Anfield and as well as being front-runners in the budding Premier League season, the Reds have had a fantastic start to their 2018/19 campaign.

Despite sitting second in the Serie A table, Napoli have had an indifferent start to their new season. Carlo Ancelotti took over as manager of the Partenopei after the departure of Maurizio Sarri, a man who made Napoli many football fans’ second favourite team in his three-year tenure at the Stadio San Paolo. Results have been overall acceptable for Gli Azzurri under Ancelotti but performances have been questionable as Napoli’s style is naturally evolving under new leadership. This matchup against a European heavyweight would be a firm test of Napoli’s standing in Group C’s pecking order.

Team Shape

To nobody’s surprise, Jürgen Klopp set his Liverpool side up in their typical 4-3-3 shape, featuring that world-class forward trio of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firminho and Mo Salah, who collectively have 10 goals and 3 assists between them in all competitions this season. Dutch internationals Georginio Wijnaldum and Virgil van Dijk are pivotal at the base of midfield and at the heart of the back-four respectively for this Liverpool side.

From the team news, the common assumption was that Carlo Ancelotti has set this Napoli team up in their familiar 4-3-3 with a front three of Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik and José Callejón. Mario Rui and Milinkovic were likely filling both full-back spots while Hasmik filled a deep-lying playmaker role vacated by Jorginho since his summer move to Chelsea. However, the early passages of play would show unusual yet very interesting team shapes for the Partenopei as Ancelotti showed his tactical nous against his lauded opposite number.

Stopping The Front Three

Looking to stop Liverpool’s build-up from the back, Napoli pressed high in a man-oriented style, happy to create 1v1 defensive situations in the Reds’ half. If they couldn’t win the ball back within a few seconds of intense pressure, Napoli reverted into an unexpected 4-4-2 medium-block. Insigne and Milik played as the two centre-forwards, with Insigne dropping a little deeper than his Polish strike partner. Jose Callejón played wide-right in midfield with Fabián Ruiz on the left-hand side and the full-backs positioned on both ends of a back-four, as expected.

What is also expected of the Napoli full-backs is that they both get forward and provide width to Napoli’s 4-3-3 when Gli Azzurri are in possession, allowing the front three and midfield three to occupy more central areas. But Wednesday’s clash at the Stadio San Paolo threw up another surprise as Ancelotti’s Napoli positioned themselves in a 3-5-2 formation when the ball was theirs.