LIVERPOOL, Oct. 4, 2018 (News Wires) - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp criticised himself and some of his players for Wednesday's 1-0 loss against Napoli in the UEFA Champions League, highlighting Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino as squad members who struggled. He also urged patience over Naby Keita's injury picked up in the match. Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool deserved to get beat by Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday as they suffered their second defeat of the season when Lorenzo Insigne scored an injury-time goal for a 1-0 win at the Stadio San Paolo. Napoli wasted a number of golden opportunities before Insigne's late intervention, while Liverpool failed to record a single shot on target in a Champions League game for the first time since 2006. "No attempts on target, I don't remember when that happened last time," Klopp told a news conference. "I think we had a big part of that because we can play much better. "We don't have a lot of set-pieces. No shot on target is not enough. They had a good game, we didn't -- that's what they deserved the three points." Klopp said he felt Liverpool started the game OK but then failed to close down spaces at the right moments, allowing Napoli to play through their formation. "Things like this happen, but not as often as they did tonight and it costs energy," Klopp said. "Then when you have the ball you have to play much calmer. "If you looked how we played you would have thought they were always on us -- we could have played calmer, but we didn't. "The first half was kind of OK, but the second half was not good enough. It's always a bad sign to say when your goalkeeper is your best player. "In the 89th minute we make another tactical mistake, we didn't close the gap between Joe [Gomez] and Virgil [van Dijk], and then we cannot react any more. It is the second time we have conceded the same kind of goal. "A big part of that performance was my fault for sure, but I need at least one night to watch it again and see what was the fault. But it was not like it should have looked." Liverpool now turn their attention towards Sunday's encounter with Manchester City at Anfield as they look to maintain their unbeaten start to the league campaign. Naby Keita was taken to hospital after injuring his back 19 minutes into the Napoli defeat, although a source told ESPN FC on Wednesday evening that it was too early to determine when he would be a doubt for the meeting with the Premier League champions. "It is a tough game, absolutely," Klopp said. "It is absolutely intense since the last international break. We cannot change that, so we have to make sure we are ready. "You were all full praise of our season and then tonight we didn't perform. That happens. We don't have to think about intensity. We have three days to recover and then we will face Man City. "It would've been difficult any way at any time of the season -- it is always difficult. Let's have a look how the players are after the game and then we will prepare. "Then we have the crowd at our backs. Tonight you could see Napoli used the atmosphere and we couldn't calm it down, but on Sunday it will be 100 percent different." In the Italian Camp, Carlo Ancelotti said he was happy to wait until the 90th minute for his Napoli side to find the winner in a Champions League victory over Liverpool on Wednesday - because it gave him less time to worry. The Italian team dominated proceedings against last season's runners-up, ensuring they did not manage a single shot on target, but they had to wait for a late Lorenzo Insigne strike to secure the three points that sent them top of Group C. Yet Ancelotti, who managed both AC Milan and Real Madrid to the Champions League title, assured reporters that the timing was not a concern to him. 'The team did well throughout the game, we never lost control,' he told Sky Italia. 'We were very good defensively, we didn't give anything away. 'We had the chances to score earlier, but I think we timed the goal well. If we had scored a few minutes earlier, we would have had more time suffering!' Barcelona 4 Tottenham Hotspur 2 Lionel Messi lifted Barcelona out of their recent slump with a magical display as his side beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 in a thrilling Champions League Group B clash on Wednesday. The Argentine maestro scored two goals to take his Champions League haul to 105, was the instigator in two others and was twice denied by the woodwork as he lit up Wembley Stadium. Messi, 31, was applauded off by both sets of fans at the end of an absorbing contest that kept Barca at the top of the group and Tottenham in trouble after two defeats. Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic scored in clinical fashion as Barcelona went in 2-0 ahead at halftime. But Barcelona needed Messi at his best to repel a tenacious Spurs fightback as Harry Kane and Erik Lamela gave the hosts hope. Only when Messi struck his second in stoppage-time could Barca coach Ernesto Valverde breathe a little easier. Barcelona, without a win in their last three La Liga games, were supposed to be vulnerable but on a pitch baring the scars of British heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua's fight against Alexander Povetkin they took only two minutes to land a blow straight in the solar plexus. Tottenham allowed Messi time and space to curl a pass to Jordi Alba on the left and with keeper Hugo Lloris, back from injury, charging out of his goal Alba cut the ball back to Coutinho who drilled home through a gaggle of defenders. The hosts responded with Kane firing in a shot that did not have enough venom to worry Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Messi opened up Tottenham again in the 28th minute. His floated pass was chested down by Luis Suarez to Coutinho whose volley sliced up in the air before the quick-thinking Brazilian hooked the ball back to Rakitic who rifled a picture-perfect right-foot volley in off the post from 25 yards. Messi ran riot at the start of the second half, twice teasing the Spurs defence before thudding shots against Lloris's right-hand post. Tottenham capitalised on their good fortune and Kane halved the deficit in the 52nd minute with a clinical finish. Messi shook his head in disbelief but he silenced the home crowd again – this time side-footing inside the post from Alba's cross to finish a flowing move he had started. There was no let-up in the furious pace and after Kane worked hard to win the ball, Lamela gave Spurs another lifeline when his 66th-minute shot flicked off Clement Lenglet and spun past Ter Stegen. A gallant Tottenham side, missing the likes of Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen, swarmed forward looking for a point that had earlier seemed inconceivable. They left yawning gaps at the back, though, and Messi finally ended their resistance when he struck again in stoppage time.
