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Liverpool savaged over 'terrible' scenes in Champions League 'shambles'

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp (pictured right) during the Champions League and (pictured left) Mohamed Salah looking frustrated.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp (pictured right) has slammed his team after they lost 4-1 to Napoli in the Champions League. (Getty Images)

Liverpool have been humbled in the opening game of the Champions League with manager Jurgen Klopp calling for major change at the club.

Last season's runners-up Liverpool have had a patchy start to their Premier League campaign and the malaise spread to Europe's top competition.

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Piotr Zielinski's early penalty after a handball, Andre-Franck Zambo Anguissa and substitute Giovanni Simeone made the difference in the first half in Italy.

Zielinski grabbed a second goal after the break before Luis Diaz struck for Liverpool and it could have been even worse for the Reds with Napoli spurning another spot kick.

After the game, Klopp was critical of his team and said Liverpool gave up some simple goals.

"It was really tough to take but I would say not that difficult to explain," Klopp told BT Sport.

"Firstly, Napoli played really well and we didn't. That is the first explanation for the defeat. The two penalties we concede, they were both a little unlucky.

"The next two goals we concede are handed to them on a plate. That is not cool and we should have defended better in the first place and, of course, in the last moment as well."

The Liverpool boss added that the team needed a change to kick-start their season in the Premier League this weekend.

Andy Robertson (pictured) reacting during a Champions League match.
Andy Robertson (pictured) during the UEFA Champions League group A match against SSC Napoli. (Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images) (John Powell via Getty Images)

"We need to reinvent ourselves," Klopp added.

"There are a lot of things lacking, not in all games but the fun thing is we have to do it in the middle of the Premier League season and a Champions League campaign. We need a set-up to be better in pretty much everything."

Football world reacts to Liverpool humbling

Left back Andy Robertson was left frustrated at the performance, which will see Liverpool fight to win top spot in the group.

"We were miles too open. You can't come to a place like this and not be compact. They were by miles the better team," Robertson said.

"Too many times they had spaces to run at us and cause us problems.

"Unfortunately, we deserved this result,...we have to wake up and quickly because we can't perform like that."

Liverpool great Jamie Carragher labelled the performance a 'shambles' as the football world ripped into a lacklustre performance.

In other results, Ajax overpowered Rangers 4-0 in the other Group A opener in Amsterdam.

Barca beat Czech champions Viktoria Plzen 5-1 at Camp Nou on Wednesday night while Leroy Sane also shone as Lewandowski's former club Bayern Munich won 2-0 at Inter Milan.

with AAP

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