Napoli are 3-0 up against Liverpool in the Champions League this evening and it's been one of the away side's worst European performances under Jurgen Klopp.
The Reds arrived in Naples on the back of a 0-0 draw with bitter rivals Everton and knew they'd be in for a tough game. Luciano Spalletti's side are currently second in Serie A and unbeaten so far this season, despite losing Kalidou Koulibaly, Fabian Ruiz, Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens in the transfer window.
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Five minutes in, they got off to a dream start after Liverpool midfielder James Milner handled inside the penalty area.
Piotr Zielinski stepped up to put his penalty past Alisson with ease and send the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona into a frenzy.
Napoli pressured Liverpool's backline throughout the half and they won another penalty ten minutes later after Virgil van Dijk brought down Victor Osimhen.
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It was the Nigeria international who took the spot kick this time, but Alisson guessed the right way to keep the scores at 1-0.
Liverpool had chances of their own but failed to make them count, which they paid for just past the half hour mark.
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa played a lovely one two with Zielinski before slotting past Alisson.
Osimhen was forced off with injury after his coming together with van Dijk, but that didn't slow Napoli down.
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Just before halftime, Joe Gomez was dispossessed by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and he drilled a cross into the box.
Giovanni Simeone, the son of Atletico Madrid manager Diego, was on hand to add a third on his Champions League debut to leave last campaign's losing finalists stunned.
Liverpool have never beaten Napoli away from home in the Champions League and Klopp was reminded of that in his pre-match press conference.
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He said: "Sure, we haven't won here, with [Borussia] Dortmund not, with Liverpool not. But I am not sure, we quite frequently qualified for the Champions League final after Napoli was with us in the group stage. I am not sure if all the time, but maybe twice if I am right, with Dortmund and one year with Liverpool as well.
"But, who cares? How we say in Germany, I'm a late bloomer; I always need a little bit longer to achieve my stuff and that means sometimes I have to try two times, sometimes three times, sometimes four times - and Napoli [could be] four times, obviously."
Topics: Liverpool, Napoli, Champions League
Daniel Marland