Liverpool managed a 1-0 win over Atalanta in the Europa League on Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Reds in the competition after a 3-0 first leg defeat a week ago.
The Reds mounted an epic comeback against Barcelona en-route to winning the Champions League in 2019, but it was not to be on this occasion. Having previously bagged the Carabao Cup, Jurgen Klopp’s final farewell as boss will now focus solely on the ongoing Premier League title race.
The damage for Liverpool had been done at Anfield, with an early Mohamed Salah penalty making only a slight dent in the lead that Atalanta had opened up in the first game. Overall, this was a match that threatened throughout to be a frenetic and spectacular watch but never really caught fire.
How the game unfolded
Chasing a 3-0 aggregate deficit, Liverpool knew they had to start fast if there was to be any chance of staying in the competition and that is exactly what happened when Trent Alexander-Arnold won the early penalty just five minutes in. After recycling an overhit ball from the opposite flank, his cross struck the arm of Matteo Ruggeri, the referee pointed to the spot and Salah duly obliged.
Liverpool could have had a quick second but for the fast reactions of Juan Musso in the home goal, rushing off his line to smother from Luis Diaz. There was a warning sign that the Reds couldn’t afford to be too pedal to the metal, though, with Alisson’s reflexes required to stop a deflected cross from Teun Koopmeiners – an eventual offside flag would have ruled it out anyway.
Atalanta grew into the game more and more as the first half progressed, waiting for Liverpool to make mistakes on the ball and spring rapid counter attacks. Aleksei Miranchuk and Gianluca Scamacca were proving to both be handfuls of the Reds’ back four. At the other end, there were several occasions where Liverpool were guilty of overplaying it or lacking quality in the final pass, allowing moves to break down before a proper chance could be created.
Salah squandered a glorious opportunity in the closing stages before half-time when racing onto Cody Gakpo’s measured ball over the top, but the attempted lob over Musso bounced awkwardly off his ankle rather than his foot and flew harmlessly wide. Almost immediately, the dangerous Koopmeiners had the ball in the net for Atalanta, only to see the flag go up – Ibrahima Konate’s last-second decision to step up was key to the goal not counting.
Once the second half got underway, a…
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