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Having been undefeated at Anfield this season, Liverpool fell to a shocking defeat at their iconic stadium to Atalanta in the first leg of their meeting in the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday.
There were danger signs in front of Caoimhin Kelleher’s goal early on, but things really started rolling downhill when Gianluca Scamacca fired past the Irish goalkeeper in the 38th minute to break the deadlock. The Atalanta striker added another one to his tally on the hour mark, and Mario Pasalic put his team practically a step away from the semifinals with a fine finish in the 83rd minute.
The woes of Liverpool
Nothing should be taken away from the performance of the Serie A side. Gian Piero Gasperini’s men were obviously up for the fight, inspired rather than scared by the prospect of facing true European giants. They pressed hard from the first to the final whistle and fought for every ball in every area of the pitch, keeping things rather tight at the back while threatening time and again at the other end.
Still, the main factor that contributed to this surprising outcome was Liverpool’s woeful performance. Despite the 71% of possession, Klopp’s team absolutely deserved to lose, arguably with an even worse scoreline. Almost every man which wore the home shirt on the pitch will have plenty to reflect on.
Kelleher made two fantastic saves in one-on-one situation, but he was pretty culpable for the opening goal. Virgil van Dijk was among the responsible ones for both those chances which Kelleher stopped. Ibrahima Konate was far too casual on the ball and misplaced several passes towards the middle of the park, always putting his team in danger. The defensive flanks, the areas Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas were supposed to be covering from the start, were far too exposed throughout.
Wataru Endo, as the midfield anchor, frequently looked like he had never played football before and was lucky not to concede a penalty for a clumsy…
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Author : Veselin Trajkovic
Publish date : 2024-04-11 22:32:39
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