Napoli overwhelmed Liverpool with three first-half goals in a 4-1 win in the opening round of group play on Wednesday.
Piotr Zielinski converted a penalty, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa doubled the lead after the half-hour mark and substitute Giovanni Simeone — the son of Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone — scored on his competition debut just before the break.
Zielinski added another two minutes after the break before Luis Díaz finally pulled one back for Liverpool on a counterattack in the 49th.
“We were miles too open. You can’t come to a place like this and not stay compact,” Liverpool left back Andy Robertson said. “Too many times they turned and had big open spaces to run at.
“Unfortunately, we deserved this result, the way we were wide open. We need to wake up, and quickly.”