Dries Mertens didn't exactly endear himself to Liverpool fans in the run-up to their Champions League clash.The Napoli midfielder was routinely booed during the game - which the Reds won virtue of Mohamed Salah's winner - for a questionable comment he made about the famous 'This is Anfield' sign.The iconic sign has resided over the Anfield tunnel for decades now, with legends of the club and contemporary players touching it before games.Mertens, on the other hand, didn't read into the sentiment of the sign and recalled during an interview with The Times: "My strongest memory is that they have a sign saying 'This is Anfield' and everyone was talking about it."I came through the tunnel and I asked, 'Where is the thing?' They said you missed it and I hadn't noticed it.

Mertens slams 'This is Anfield'

"So in the second half, I'm looking at this small thing and asking, 'Is this so special?'"

Although Mertens wasn't exactly ripping into the sign, he certainly did his best to devalue a meaningful piece of furniture at the club and it sparked plenty of backlash on Twitter.

Of course, Liverpool got their revenge with Mertens experiencing a quiet game and being substituted late on as the home side qualified for the knockout stages.

Journalist's brilliant Mertens tweet

A mistake from David Ospina allowed Salah to open the scoring, before Alisson Becker made a superb save to deny a late equaliser.

So, naturally, Mertens was wide open to criticism after the game and Liverpool-based reporter 'DavidOCKop' delivered one of the finest reactions.

Both drawing on the offending 'This is Anfield' comment and the Belgian's performance during the game, he posted a tweet that's already amassed thousands of 'likes.'

Check out the post and reaction below:

Can somebody get a taxi for Mertens? 

Although Mertens was never firing shots at the Liverpool team, he must have known his comments would receive a backlash and there's no coming back to these particular posts.

The midfielder looked a constant threat throughout the original meeting - a 1-0 win for the Italians - but failed to make a lasting impression on Merseyside.

The sign in the tunnel is meant to bring good luck to players, so maybe Mertens could have done with appreciating the very instalment he slighted.

Regardless, though, he won't be walking out at Anfield anytime soon as Napoli now drop down to the Europa League while Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain progress.

Do you think Mertens' comments went too far? Have your say in the comments section below.