Steven Gerrard inspires Liverpool to victory over SSC Napoli
Liverpool earned three important points against SSC Napoli in the Europa Leauge on Thursday, 4 November.
Napoli took the lead through Ezequiel Lavezzi in the first half, but a hat trick by skipper Steven Gerrard inspired the English team to a 3–1 victory that sees them retain their lead in Group K.
Hodgson's men looked lively at the start of the first half, with Stiris Kyrgiakos heading over the bar from a corner in the seventh minute.
The Italians also showed attacking intent, as Edinson Cavani ran onto former Liverpool player Andrea Dossena's through ball, but Pepe Reina was quick to come out and collect the ball.
With 20 minutes played, Cavani combined with Lavezzi and found space inside the Liverpool box only to hit his shot over the bar.
Shortly thereafter, Glen Johnson galloped down the right and teed up David Ngog, who failed to test Morgan De Sanctis from the edge of the box.
Lavezzi puts Napoli ahead
After some sustained pressure, Napoli took a deserved lead with 28 minutes gone when Liverpool failed get a hold of the ball in midfield after Reina's goal kick.
Cavani headed a loose ball into the path of Lavezzi as the pair combined again, with the latter running into the box and finishing who under Reina to the delight of the visiting fans.
Ngog nearly produced the perfect reply for Liverpool after being played through by Raul Meireles, but the Frenchman's finish went wide of the goal.
Gerrard, who came on to replace Milan Jovanovic at half time, inspired Liverpool in attack after the break, feeding Jonjo Shelvey who picked out Ngog, but De Sanctis got in the way of his first-time finish.
Gerrard begins the fight-back
Gerrard then took matters into his own hands with 76 minutes played. The captain was alert when Shelvey's dribble led to a poor pass for De Sanctis, beating the keeper to the ball and knocking the it into
the empty net.
In the 87th minute, Gerrard stepped up to convert a penalty in to the bottom left after Johnson was fouled by Salvatore Aronica.
Two minutes later, the Englishman completed his hat trick when substitute Lucas stole the ball from Michele Pazienza and knocked it into Gerrard's path. The midfielder advanced with one touch and hit a
delightful ball over De Sanctis with his second.
Liverpool lead Steaua Bucharest by three points in the group after collecting eight points from four games. Napoli are tied with FC Utrecht, with both teams on three points.
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