English clubs on the march again in the Champions League

ANCELOTTI’S FINAL STAND

Arkadiusz Milik did his best to save Ancelotti, scoring a first-half hat trick for Napoli before Dries Mertens added the fourth against a Genk team which fielded Maarten Vandevoordt — the youngest goalkeeper ever in the competition at 17 years, nine months and 10 days.

That secured the team second place behind Liverpool, which denied Napoli a place in the last 16 in the final group game of last season’s competition. But it wasn’t enough for Ancelotti, who had previously failed to lead Napoli to victory in any of its last nine games in his second season as its coach.

Like Napoli, Liverpool knew a win would see them progress but found things much tougher against Salzburg. Jurgen Klopp's team survived some early scares before scoring two goals in as many minutes from the 57th, through Naby Keita — who played for Salzburg from 2014-16 — and Mohamed Salah.

Salah's goal was exquisite, the Egypt forward breaking the offside trap to round the goalkeeper and score from an acute on the right with his weaker right foot.