Jurgen Klopp and Frank Lampard began their Champions League campaigns with defeat. Both have been left with a task to reflect on the key penalty incidents.
Ross Barkley missed a late chance to equalize for Chelsea as they lost 1-0 at home to Valencia.
Napoli on the other side did not engage in a losing match. Their first goal in the 2-0 win over holders Liverpool came from a dubious spot-kick.
The referee, Felix Brych pointed to the spot with eight minutes left when Andy Robertson was judged to have fouled Jose Callejon.
Dries Mertens converted the spot-kick before the former Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente sealed the win with a second goal in stoppage-time.
The penalty conversation
Lampard bitterly regretted the key penalty incident when he saw Barkley’ late effort clip to the top of the bar.
There were confusing moments when it initially looked like Jorginho who scored for Chelsea in their Super Cup defeat to Liverpool last month was about to take the penalty.
However, Barkley hit the penalty after discussions with several of his team-mates including Brazilian captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
“Ross is a penalty taker”. Said Lampard. “He scored a couple in pre-season. He was on it today but unfortunately, he missed it.”
“I don’t know what the conversation was all about. Jorginho and Willian were the penalty takers on the pitch.”
The miss brought a frustrating night to Chelsea. Frustrations heightened when midfielder Mason Mount was forced off with an ankle injury during the first half.
“We should have won or at least got a draw,” added Lampard. “We created enough chances, we had the penalty and conceded with their one shot on goal.”
Klopp, “we deserved at least a point”
Just like Lampard, Klopp felt his side deserved at least a point. With the defeat, it means the club is the first winners of the competition to lose the opening game of the campaigns since AC Milan in 1994.
“This was a much better game than we played last time when we lost 1-0 to Napoli last season.” Said Klopp. “It was an open game, in moments we controlled it, but we had a lot of counter-attacks and did not finish them off.”
“That’s a problem. Then in the second half, we had this wild game, we were running, they were running. They have killed everybody on the pitch, started controlling again and then we’ve conceded a penalty. Of course, that doesn’t help and I’ve seen it now, I don’t think that’s a penalty.”
Despite the defeat, Lampard is confident his side can progress from the group. The manager wants his side to bounce back quickly when they host Liverpool in the Premier League this weekend.