As the majority of the 52,000 crowd roared in celebration around them, one-by-one the Napoli players were dropping to the Anfield turf dejected and drained, as they disappeared through the Champions League trapdoor.
Although the Europa League, and the potential to add a European trophy to their honours list, still awaits the Partenopei in the new year, there will be nothing other than a feeling that an opportunity was missed against Liverpool on Tuesday night.
The campaign as a whole this season has been a story of so-near-yet-so-yet-far for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, missing a host of chances in Belgrade and suffering heartache in the closing stages in Paris.
Arguably the best performing team in an extremely tough group, Napoli mistrusted their attacking instincts somewhat on Merseyside, seemingly shackled by the knowledge that a narrow defeat could still be enough to proceed.
Despite topping the Premier League, their hosts knew that as well and, unlike when Roma visited in April, there was little of the intimidating atmosphere that helped overcome the Eternal City side that evening.
When captain Marek Hamsik raced to the edge of the box on 10 minutes and fired the ball skyward, the reaction from the home fans should have told Ancelotti that this was not the night for a calm and calculated approach very much fitting his own persona.
Moments later, centre-back Virgil Van Dijk was being cautioned for illegally halting the progress of Dries Mertens – the type of player whose pace and trickery could trouble the usually unruffled Dutchman – and Liverpool looked flustered.
Rather than seize the opportunity to land the first blow in what was always going to be a tight encounter, the Partenopei were clearly willing to stick to the astute tactician plan and continued to bide their time.
Even when Mohammed Salah fired the 2018 finalists into a first-half lead, there was little change after the break and the first 30 minutes of the second period was largely one-way traffic, with Napoli only looking likely to concede again.
Supporters may point to the arrival of Piotr Zielinski and Faouzi Ghoulam from the bench as an attempt to stretch Liverpool in the space created on the right by Salah’s forward surges, but the damage was done. The majority of those on the pitch wearing blue were stuck in neutral.
Admittedly, Napoli created a nervous few spell for Liverpool as the minutes ticked by, but when the competition restarts in February those sentiments will be meaningless and what should have been a night of celebration will forever be tainted with regret.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com