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Liverpool captain Henderson frustrated not to finish the job against Napoli

SoccerNews in English Premier League 27 Nov 2019

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Jordan Henderson acknowledged Liverpool were frustrated not to “finish the job” in Champions League Group E by beating Napoli on Wednesday.

Liverpool wanted a win at Anfield to clinch their place in the knockout stages with a game to spare, also guaranteeing top spot in the group.

A 1-1 draw was all the Premier League leaders could manage, though, with Dejan Lovren’s header cancelling out Dries Mertens’ coolly taken opener.

The result leaves Group E firmly in the balance, with Liverpool needing to avoid defeat in their final match against Salzburg to send themselves and Napoli through.

However, a defeat – combined with Napoli beating Genk – would see the Champions League holders drop into the Europa League.

Reds captain Henderson insists Jurgen Klopp’s side can still feel full of confidence heading to Salzburg on December 10.

“We’d have liked to have won, of course, to finish the job [qualification for last 16] but Napoli are a good side and we could only get a point,” Henderson told BT Sport.

“I think we’re still in a decent position, but there’s one game left and we need to go and get a win away now.

“Napoli are a good team, good players, we knew it was going to be difficult. There were obviously times when we knew we could have done better, but we played some good stuff in the second half. We were searching for the second but couldn’t manage to get it.

“We keep going, we’re still in a healthy position but need to get the win away now. Second half, there was only one team going to win the game, if anyone. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a winner.

“We stay confident. We’ve still got a job to do away but we’re confident we can do that.”

Napoli’s opener came moments after Virgil van Dijk went down with an apparent hip injury, with the defender claiming he had been fouled by Mertens, who subsequently burst clear and drilled a superb finish beyond Alisson.

VAR checked the goal twice – first for a potential foul and then for offside – before allowing it to stand, and Henderson did not look to make any excuses.

“There was a question of a foul, I thought it might have been offside, but it obviously wasn’t,” he added. 

“It was early in the game, so we had plenty of time to get back and win the game but, unfortunately, we couldn’t do it.”

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