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LONDON. — Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has hit out at the penalty decision that he felt cost his side badly in Tuesday night’s defeat against Napoli.

Klopp questioned the awarding of a penalty to Napoli which he felt proved decisive as Liverpool started the defence of their Champions League football crown with a 2-0 defeat in southern Italy.

The Reds lacked a cutting edge but would have been worthy of a point at the intimidating Stadio San Paolo, only for the Group E opener to hinge on Jose Callejon being upended in the area by Andy Robertson.

Dries Mertens converted from the spot in the 82nd minute before Virgil Van Dijk lost the ball on the edge of the area in stoppage time, allowing former Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente to seal a 2-0 win for Napoli.

Klopp was not critical of his players after the game, believing they put in a good performance and preferred to point at the penalty decision, which he felt robbed his side of a point.

“When we conceded to go 1-0 down that was the game-changer. We have to accept the result,” Klopp said.

“We are really critical of ourselves, but it was not a really, really bad performance, it was a game which we could have won at Napoli, but we didn’t because we didn’t score.  We wanted to have at least a point and we didn’t get that because of the penalty. I’m pretty sure there are different views on that situation but when a player jumps before there is contact then it cannot be a penalty.

“But we cannot change that anymore so that’s how it is and now we carry on, that’s it.”

Liverpool were beaten in every game away from Anfield in the competition last season and still managed to get through the group. — AFP.