Mohamed Salah's goal sent Liverpool into the Champions League last 16 as the 1-0 result required to leapfrog Napoli in Group C was achieved.

The forward’s first-half strike ultimately clinched three points from a fraught encounter with the Serie A outfit that remained in the balance until the last kick.

Watch: The win over Napoli in 90 seconds

It was a result sufficient to lift Jürgen Klopp’s team above Napoli in the section by virtue of goals scored, with the head-to-head record and goal difference unable to separate them.

The Reds therefore take second place behind Paris Saint-Germain and will be in next Monday’s draw for the first round of the competition’s knockout stages.

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Klopp made three changes to the XI he named against Bournemouth last weekend, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane brought back in.

Andy Robertson made his 50th appearance for the club.

First half

If the delicate permutations involved in the tie threatened a cagey encounter, the zip and bite of the early exchanges promised neither side was going to be patient.

A cleaner touch by Salah might have given the Reds a lead within seven minutes but the No.11 could not quite control Robertson’s outstanding, first-time thread into the box.

Immediately at the other end, Marek Hamsik swiped a shot narrowly over the bar, before James Milner sent a header just off target from Alexander-Arnold’s delivery.

Virgil van Dijk’s sliding challenge on Dries Mertens, for which the Dutchman was booked and will miss Liverpool’s next European match, prompted a pause to the game’s thrilling pace.

But not for long – and Anfield erupted, albeit briefly, when Mane clinically prodded in Alexander-Arnold’s flat cross to the back post from an offside position.

The celebrations kicked in for real with 34 minutes on the clock, as Milner’s forward pass into Salah’s feet transformed from routine move into Liverpool breakthrough.

The Egyptian’s 13th goal of the season was textbook; he rolled Mario Rui’s attempt to foul him, shuffled around Kalidou Koulibaly and, from a narrowing angle on the right, knocked the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs into the far corner.

Advantage Liverpool at the break.

Second half

The tempo of the opening 45 minutes resumed when the teams emerged from that interval and Salah was inches away from putting the Reds two ahead.

Henderson stole possession from Hamsik high up the pitch, allowing Roberto Firmino to slide in Salah to his right. The forward showed strength to hold off Rui as he surged into the area but poked his finish the wrong side of the near post.

Firmino headed an Alexander-Arnold cross straight at David Ospina and the Napoli stopper collected a Henderson volley from distance as Liverpool increasingly dictated proceedings up to the hour mark.

Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti made three substitutions in quick succession in an attempt to regain impetus and it worked, with the visitors maintaining a period of pressure as the minutes ticked away.

Gaps were opening up for Klopp’s men on the counter-attack, though, and with a quarter of an hour left Ospina had to force Salah wide when one-on-one and then recover to stop the follow-up cross from reaching Firmino.

He produced an even better save moments later, this time with his legs, when Robertson broke free on the left side and squared for Mane to strike from close range.

Lorenzo Insigne clipped a tricky cross from the left flank to the far post and Robertson could not hook it away from Jose Callejon, who lifted his shot from yards out over the goalframe.

Liverpool continued to create opportunities and the unmarked Mane drove an effort wide from eight yards having been teed up by Salah three minutes from time.

Still the tension went on, Napoli refusing to lie down, and Alisson Becker somehow reacted to keep out a stoppage-time snapshot from Arkadiusz Milik in stunning fashion.

And the single goal finally, thankfully, proved enough and the Reds’ 2018-19 Champions League journey will extend into next year and the knockout rounds.

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