Liverpool's latest European adventure gets underway this week as the group stage of the Champions League returns to television screens and stadiums across the continent.
The Reds retake their place in UEFA's elite competition with unhappy memories of last season's final - both on and off the pitch - still lingering in the mind. What could have been the greatest season in the club's illustrious history ended up being 'just' a double domestic cup triumph, although that doesn't really tell even half the story.
But for Real Madrid, Jurgen Klopp could be a triple European Cup-winner with Liverpool. Like a modern-day Bob Paisley. But the cruel Euro gods dealt him a different hand that has resulted in one successful big ears lift out of three.
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The natural response after the Paris final - a match that Liverpool were favourites to win - is not to worry, we'll come back next year and do it all over again. Such was the team's apparent strength in the first half of 2022 and right the way through the Champions League campaign, it would not have been fanciful to suggest that Klopp's mentality monsters are more than capable of stepping out at the 'infamous' Ataturk Stadium on June 10 next year to attempt to lift a seventh European Cup in the same stadium that they somehow managed to secure their fifth.
A lot has happened in three months though. Sadio Mane, one of the bedrocks of Klopp's team, has left for Bayern Munich and Liverpool's damaged midfield has had a plaster slapped on it in the shape of a loan deal for Arthur Melo. The Brazilian hasn't kicked a ball for the Reds yet, but expecting a player who seemingly failed to set the world alight at both Barcelona and Juventus to provide the missing cog in the engine room riddle feels like a big ask.
Liverpool's underwhelming start to the Premier League season has got people talking. Victory against a hopeless Bournemouth and last-gasp fortune over fuming Newcastle can't hide the fact that the Reds simply haven't got the handbrake off in the league campaign thus far, so the Champions League could probably provide a bit of a welcome distraction. At least you would hope so.
UEFA's painfully dragged out group stage draw has pitted the Reds against familiar foe Napoli, Ajax of Amsterdam and, for the first time ever, Glasgow Rangers.
On paper, you would expect Klopp's side to walk this group. In last season's so-called group of death with Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and FC Porto, Liverpool progressed without dropping a single point. But on paper, you would also have expected victories against Fulham, Crystal Palace and maybe even Manchester United and Everton.
While the Reds try to adjust to a troublesome injury list and life without Mane, they remain vulnerable and in such circumstances, a trip to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium to face old streetwise Napoli is not exactly an ideal way to get this new European escapade up and running.
Liverpool have never beaten the Italians in their own stadium. The two sides last met in the group stage of this competition in 2019 with the Serie A side winning 2-0 at home before grinding out a draw in the the return fixture at Anfield.
They also beat the Reds 1-0 in the corresponding group stage fixture in 2018 when Carlo Ancelotti - you remember him - was at the helm. Currently top of Serie A after five matches, be in no doubt that the Gli Azzurri will be smelling blood in this match-up and with the backing of their 'lively' supporters, will be hellbent on getting one over their English visitors this Wednesday.
But before we start writing off this tricky-looking fixture before the travelling supporters have left British airspace, it is worth remembering that regardless of current patchy form, Klopp's team remains one of the most feared in Europe, with a record in this competition to justify it.
Diogo Jota and Joel Matip are both back in contention and with more options now at his disposal, the manager will have greater scope to mix things up a bit in Naples.
Such is the Reds' pedigree in Europe, no one wants to be drawn against them. A positive result in Italy will not only serve as a thank you to the loyal supporters who make the trip to southern Europe this week in the midst of a cost of living crisis, but will serve to remind the other Euro big guns that a slow domestic league start does not necessarily equate to the same in a competition that Jose Mourinho once claimed wasn't always won by the best team.
Whether they prevail in Naples this week or not, Liverpool's love affair with the European Cup isn't going to be easily interrupted by an injury list and patchy form alone. While the club take's the flack for falling short of expectation in August, don't be surprised if they silence the doubters this week in the toughest of environments to succeed.
Allez Les Rouges.
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