Jurgen Klopp did not believe in his wildest dreams, that he would open his seventh season as Liverpool coach with only two league wins in six games, and that his team would be stuck in seventh place in the table, six points away from first place.
In England there were already those who claimed that the "curse of the seventh season" was returning, as Klopp failed both at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, his two previous teams, just after completing six seasons of success.
It would of course be irresponsible and irresponsible to condemn the German manager at such an early stage of the season, but what is certain is that if Liverpool lose tonight against Napoli in their opening game in the Champions League, talk of the curse will return.
Salah with Klopp.
The curse of the seventh season?, photo: I.P.I
Klopp knows that Liverpool have a very difficult away match against Luciano Spalletti's team, who are in second place in Italy.
They still haven't lost this season and beat Lazio 1:2 away on Saturday.
History shows that Liverpool have never beaten Napoli away from home and never scored in the stadium, which for the last two years has been named after the great Napoli player, Diego Armando Maradona.
The first meeting was in 2010, long before Klopp arrived at Anfield, and ended goalless.
Klopp himself lost in his two previous visits to Napoli: 1:0 in 2018 and 2:0 the following year, which ended in a great way for him - winning the Champions League.
Contrary to plans
So the dismal start in the Premier League and history is against it, but Liverpool comes to this game, for which all the tickets were snapped up in record speed, with another blow: a long list of injured.
This forces Klopp to improvise, so much so that the strongest rumor heading into the evening is that Arthur, the Brazilian midfielder on loan from Juventus, may make his debut against Napoli, which was not planned at all.
Arthur was loaned last week (Liverpool will be able to purchase him at the end of the season for £32 million), on the last day of the transfer window, mainly due to the plague of injuries in question, mainly in the midfielder.
Jurgen Klopp.
just want to calm down
Captain Jordan Henderson is the latest to be added to the injured list, after Naby Keita, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago Alcantara.
None of them played on Saturday in the disappointing 0:0 against Everton, although Thiago has returned to full training and may start tonight in Napoli together with Arthur.
The latter previously played in Barcelona, and in his first season with the team, 2018/2019, in a match against Valencia, he had 135 passes - a record in the Spanish league that season.
His ability led to comparisons with Xavi, the current coach of Barca, who showered him with praise.
In the end, Arthur did not leave a mark in Barcelona and moved to Juventus.
In two seasons in the "old lady" uniform, he did not impress too much.
He scored only one goal, but on the other hand he never lost to Napoli.
In three games against her, he won twice and ended in a draw once.
Liverpool players are looking for solutions, photo: Reuters
Jurgen Klopp knows that tonight's game is critical for the rest of the season, since the next games in the Champions League, against Ajax and against Rangers, will not be easy either - and besides, it's time for Liverpool to finally score in the stadium in Naples.
Nadav Jacobi, also on Twitter - nimidana@
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