Dejan Lovren’s second-half goal helped Liverpool salvage a 1-1 draw with Napoli.
Dries Mertens gave the visitors a shock early lead when he beat Alisson at his near post with a tidy finish after evading the European champions’ offside trap.
But Lovren evened things up for Jurgen Klopp’s side on 65 minutes by powering home a trademark header into the Kop net.from a James Milner corner.
It means the Reds now need at least a point from their final Champions League group fixture at Red Bull Salzburg to guarantee a place in the last 16 draw.
Here were the key talking points from Anfield:
Napoli remain Anfield’s kryptonite
Since last season, Napoli are the only team to truly have Liverpool’s number.
There is something about them that Jurgen Klopp’s side simply cannot kick.
Back-to-back defeats at the Stadio San Paolo and a close encounter of the third kind at Anfield last December meant they went into this clash forewarned.
Yet the Partonopei once again gave the hosts a run for their money.
Dries Mertens may have broken the deadlock but it was the collective threat possessed through Hirving Lozano and one-time Anfield target Piotr Zielinski.
Liverpool may have inflicted Carlo Ancelotti’s most painful memory by overturning AC Milan’s three-goal lead in the 2005 Champions League final.
With his current employers, however, vengeance has come around several times over for the veteran Italian. Klopp’s charges must be sick of the sight of them.
Fabinho hit on night of hard knocks
Injuries will invariably come back to bite Liverpool at some stage this season.
Most inside Anfield could have been forgiven for believing this was the night that their worst fears became realised as Fabinho pulled up early in the first half.
An audible hush came over the stadium when one of Klopp’s most influential players found himself succumbing to rare mortality with an ankle knock.
After Mohamed Salah’s recent problems, it felt as though the stars may no longer be aligning for the European champions in their current quest for success.
Suspension renders Fabinho’s absence against Brighton a non-issue but fears over his availability for next week’s Merseyside derby are a genuine concern.
Klopp is now sweating on whether his Brazilian enforcer will still be laid low when a struggling Everton make the trip across Stanley Park in seven days’ time.
Lovren the unlikely man again
A Liverpool centre-back rising to head home during a crucial match in Europe’s premier club competition has become a tale as old as time itself.
Dejan Lovren will never eclipse the legend of Tommy Smith but he shares a common bond with a player that Bill Shankly claimed quarried and not born.
The Anfield Iron became immortalised by Barry Davies’ commentary of his goal in the 1977 European Cup final that hailed him as ‘the unlikely man again’.
That moniker is an equally fitting epitaph for Lovren’s own career with the Reds after he powered home a crucial second-half equaliser in front of The Kop.
Opposing defences have failed to track the Croatia international on numerous occasions and Napoli became the latest victim from a James Milner corner.
Granted, it will not go down as his most memorable – the 2016 winner against Borussia Dortmund takes that crown – but Lovren’s latest goal was equally vital.
Write off the maligned centre-back at your peril.
Group deja-vu in Salzburg
Reaching the Champions League’s last 16 with a game to spare was the dream for the Liverpool manager heading into this penultimate group stage fixture.
But history will need to repeat itself when his side take on Red Bull Salzburg in a fortnight’s time if they are to qualify for the first knock-out round.
The Austrian Bundesliga outfit’s 4-1 win over Genk in Group E’s other encounter keeps the pressure on the competition holders to maintain their pole position.
A draw against Jesse Marsch’s side will be enough to guarantee a place in next month’s draw but victory ensures a more favourable draw as group leaders.
They never do it the easy way, do they?