Liverpool know failure against Napoli could ruin Champions League AND Premier League campaigns

The lead-up to Liverpool’s crunch meeting with Napoli has been dominated by talk of the need for another special Anfield night.

The Reds go into this evening’s fixture knowing that only a 1-0 in their favour or any win by a two-goal margin or more will take them into the knockout stages of the Champions League.

And Jurgen Klopp has taken up the familiar role of tubthumper-in-chief in a bid to ensure his players have all the support they can get in their bid to realise that aim.

Speaking ahead of the game, he said: "We were not good in Napoli so the first thing we want to do is show that we are better than how we played there.

"Again, we are going to ask for Anfield and call on the fans to help us - it is a really massive game.

"It would be really cool if the crowd was on its feet, it's a big one and our people know that - I know they will already be warming up.

"We know how big the atmosphere can be and hopefully we see that.

"We did everything we could to qualify for this tournament again and we know we have a chance to go through with specific results even though this Champions League campaign so far was not really ours."

Fans would do well to heed their manager’s advice as they head to Anfield on Tuesday night, particularly as the stakes are perhaps higher than many realise.

Of course, elimination at this stage would constitute a significant backwards step for a team who reached the final of this competition last season.

But there is a further, unspoken downside to a poor result: the potential effects on Liverpool’s budding title challenge.

Ask any Reds supporter which they would rather win this season, and the Premier League would likely come a long way ahead of a sixth Champions League title.

Yet the two are intrinsically linked until the knockout stages at least, largely because the threat of Europa League qualification still hangs over Klopp’s men.

Unless Red Star Belgrade pull off an unexpected win over Paris Saint-Germain on the same night, Liverpool will end up in Europe’s second-tier competition if they cannot get past Napoli.

And that could have dire consequences for their hopes of clinching a first league title since 1990.

On face value at least, the Thursday-Sunday routine enforced by the Europa League has always seemed to take a bigger physical toll on players than the Champions League’s Tuesday or Wednesday fixtures.

As it stands | Group C

And, whether completely true or not, Liverpool won’t wish to test the theory out having finally hit the front in a remarkably tight Premier League title race last weekend.

Even in the short term, the blow to confidence dealt by an early Champions League exit would be the worst possible preparation for Sunday’s crucial home meeting with a Manchester United side who would love to derail their hosts’ fine start.

But it is the thought that the three points available against Jose Mourinho’s men could be devalued that makes Tuesday’s fixture even bigger than it might usually be.