Jurgen Klopp did not hold back in his assessment of his Liverpool players after their shock 3-0 Europa League defeat by Atalanta.
Anfield was left stunned after the Serie A side put three past them with no reply, leaving Liverpool with quite the mountain to climb in next week’s second leg in Bergamo. Former West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca was at the double for the visitors, with goals either side of half-time.
The away end was sent wild when Mario Pasalic tapped home Atalanta’s third from a rebound, with Reds players left looking perplexed. Things could’ve have been different, with Mohamed Salah having the ball in the net shortly before Atalanta’s final goal, but the Egyptian was deemed offside.
Klopp cut a notably frustrated figure from his technical area throughout the night. The German was left particularly furious when right-back Joe Gomez opted to take an optimistic attempt from long-range, only to fire well over the crossbar.
Speaking after the game, Klopp struggled to hide his disappointment. He told TNT Sports: “Unfortunately there is nothing really positive to say about the game.
“The start was good and we were maybe unlucky with Harvey hitting the crossbar and that period we 100% deserved to be 1-0 up. Darwin’s chance was another good moment so that was really good.
“But from a specific moment on it became a really bad game and there is nothing positive to say about that. I didn’t like our discipline in possession. We were everywhere, which then means nowhere. No counter-press, we played into their hands.”
Klopp continued: “A lot of performances tonight were really ‘oops, wow, I didn’t know they could play like that.’ A lot of the players looked really alone in a lot of moments. It was really bad. We had our biggest chances in the end and didn’t use them.”
Atalanta are currently sixth in Serie A and few could have expected this result before kick-off. However, they restricted their hosts to very little in terms of chances, with Liverpool mustering up just four shots on target.
It reduced the Reds to their first home defeat since February of last year. Between that loss at the hands of Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 in 2023 and tonight, Liverpool had managed to go 33 home fixtures without tasting defeat.
Liverpool will need to bounce back quickly, given they welcome Crystal Palace to Anfield in the league on Sunday afternoon. The Reds remain in a three-horse title race alongside league-leaders Arsenal and third-placed Manchester City.
Having drawn away at Manchester United last Sunday, another slip-up in the league could prove costly in their bid for a second Premier League title.
