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Together again: it was a very different Liverpool that welcomed first-time visitors Napoli to Anfield back in 2010. Photo: AFP
Opinion
Tony Evans
Tony Evans

Liverpool’s Champions League draw offers a stark reminder of how far the club has come since FSG’s takeover

  • Napoli were drawn with Liverpool back in 2010 in John Henry’s first year as principal owner and the contrast between the club then and now is notable
  • Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool is vastly different from the club FSG inherited after the ill-fated Hicks and Gillett era

Jurgen Klopp could not have asked for a better draw as Liverpool look forward to their defence of the Champions League. Group E, comprising Napoli, Salzburg and Genk should offer a straightforward path to the knockout stage.

Retaining the trophy is a difficult task. Only Real Madrid have managed it in the Champions League era and by the time the Spanish giants won three in a row between 2016 and 2018 many people had started to believe it was almost impossible in the modern format.

Liverpool have achieved the feat once, in 1978 when they beat Bruges 1-0 at Wembley to keep the European Cup on Merseyside after winning it for the first time the previous year in Rome.

In this year’s group stage they have managed to avoid the teams they feared.

John W. Henry has presided over a period of dramatic improvement at Liverpool. Photo: Reuters

The 52-year-old will not take Salzburg or Genk lightly but will expect to beat them. Liverpool have never played either side before so it will be a welcome new experience for supporters.

Napoli are different. Their two previous visits to Anfield evoke disparate but important – and disturbing – memories.

When Henry welcomes Napoli back to Anfield he will be able to reflect on his first experience of European competition and how far the club has developed under (his) ownership

The Serie A side came within a whisker of dumping the eventual winners out of the competition in last season’s group stage. Only an exceptional stoppage-time save by Alisson Becker from Arkadiusz Milik preserved Liverpool’s 1-0 victory and allowed the hosts to progress to the knockout round. The Italian club were consigned to the Europa League – where they beat Salzburg – and will return to Merseyside with a sense of grievance. They are dangerous opponents.

There will be a very different mood from the first time Napoli played in front of the Kop in continental competition. That was in November 2010 in the Europa League. At that point it was hard to imagine that Liverpool could ever become a European power again.

Liverpool endured a miserable spell under Roy Hodgson,who was in charge when FSG bought the club. Photo: Reuters

The significance of that game is that it was John W Henry’s first visit to Anfield after buying the club the previous month. The Boston-based businessman must have wondered whether he had made a bad decision with his purchase.

Although his new team won 3-1 against the Serie A side, Henry knew there were systemic problems. Roy Hodgson was manager, Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen were on the pitch and the summer’s marquee signing, Joe Cole, was injured.

Cole was brought to Anfield from Chelsea on a free transfer by Christian Purslow, the managing director before the takeover, and handed a deal worth £140,000 per week. He made 26 Premier League appearances over the four years of his contract. Purslow, who is now chief executive at Aston Villa, was also responsible for the appointment of Hodgson. There was a toxic atmosphere around the club and Henry was aghast at the way the place was being run. The last thing on the principal owner’s mind was dominating Europe.

Liverpool were experiencing arguably their lowest period in terms of performance since the arrival of Bill Shankly in 1959. When Henry welcomes Napoli back to Anfield he will be able to reflect on his first experience of European competition and how far the club has developed under the ownership of Fenway Sports Group (FSG). Two consecutive Champions League finals and the 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid have indisputably put Liverpool back at the continent’s top table.

Jurgen Klopp has taken the club to two consecutive Uefa Champions League finals. Photo: Reuters
Still, much credit must be given to Klopp. There have been times in the years between that Napoli game in 2010 and the glorious night in the Metropolitano in June that FSG’s methods have needed refinement. The German came to Anfield with the credentials, knowledge and authority to ensure that minds were focused on success. He has elevated himself in the pantheon of Liverpool managers by winning the Champions League and retaining the trophy would lift him even higher.

Bob Paisley achieved the feat in different times. As holders, Paisley’s team received a bye in the first round of the competition and played just six games to reach the final. It was a less arduous tournament but that is balanced because every team involved had won the title in their own league.

What is similar is the strength of the squads. The 1978 team had a brilliant goalkeeper in Ray Clemence. Virgil van Dijk would have struggled to break up the central defensive partnership of Phil Thompson and Alan Hansen and the full backs – Phil Neal on the right and Emlyn Hughes on the left – were magnificent, if not quite so dashing as Klopp’s pair.

Bob Paisley’s all-conquering Liverpool side of the ’70s would doubtlessly have found space for some of Jurgen Klopp’s current crop. Photo: Alamy

The midfield Paisley put together was the strongest in the club’s history. Jimmy Case, Terry McDermott, Graeme Souness and Ray Kennedy were a fearsome unit. Klopp would kill for one or two players like that. Paisley, on the other hand, would have loved the modern trio of attackers. Although he had Kenny Dalglish up front paired with the explosive David Fairclough, he would have appreciated the pace and work rate of Klopp’s forwards.

Paisley had perhaps the best back four and midfield in Europe and the finest attacker in Dalglish. His modern counterpart has one of the classiest defences and the most dangerous front line. If Klopp gets the midfield right, the Champions League trophy should be a viable target again.

It was a good draw for Liverpool. Napoli, though, are like a ghost from the past reminding the Kop of how bad things once were and how small the gap can be between despair and glory.

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