Liverpool Steal Point In The Italian Job

A second string Liverpool side produced an admirable draw at Napoli in their Europa League Group K tie at Stadio San Paolo. Coming into this game, Napoli have not lost any of their last five games in Europe at the San Paolo Stadium since 0-1 defeat in 1994 against E.Frankfurt. Liverpool who came into this game in a really poor form, but were at the top of Group K, could afford to keep Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres at Merseyside. Roy Hodgson decided to give promising young talent Jonjo Shelvey his first competitive start for Liverpool. Ryan Babel and David Ngog also came into the side, as did Martin Kelly and Jay Spearing. In the first half, Napoli looked the most likely team team to score. They were creating all the chances. But from Liverpool point of view, Jonjo Shelvey, who made his Liverpool debut tonight, was the stand out performer in the first half with his brillant crossing skills. However, it was the home side who came the closest right at the end of the stoppage time of the first half. Edison Cavani who controlled the ball from a corner kick, managed to get the ball to Marik Hamsik whose shot beats Pepe Reina but Paul Konchesky clears it off the line. The second half wasn't much different. Napoli were creating the majority of the chances. Ezequiel Lavezzi was their most effective player who was always ready to take on players. He managed to create several chances but Napoli didn't have anything to show for the possession and build-up play. Ryan Babel had the best chance for Liverpool after being released on the left wing by Milan Jovanovic, but his shot was saved by the goalkeeper 's leg. Late in the second half, David Ngog beautifully took down the ball with brilliant control and managed to turn away from two defenders and shoot, only to be blocked by another on coming defender. At the end, both the teams had to settle for a point apiece.