Steve McManaman was left eating his words on Thursday night after Atalanta defied his prediction by battering Liverpool at Anfield.
Liverpool were beaten 3-0 by the Italian side in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final. Jurgen Klopp made six changes for the match, with one eye on the Premier League game against Crystal Palace on Sunday, but saw the decision backfire.
The Reds were well off the pace and Gianluca Scamacca scored twice before Mario Pasalic rubbed salt into the wounds with a late rebound. The home side hit the woodwork through Harvey Elliott and Mohamed Salah had a goal ruled out for offside, but Atalanta were good value for their famous win.
Former Liverpool winger McManaman was on co-commentary duties for TNT Sports – and, like many, it is fair to say he was expecting a routine home win. Liverpool had gone 33 matches unbeaten at Anfield, while Atalanta had lost their previous two matches.
Speaking shortly after kick-off, McManaman confidently stated: “If Liverpool were in the Champions League, they would be one of the favourites”. In the opening five minutes, he mentioned that Liverpool looked much sharper and faster than Atalanta, who he suggested appeared strong but slow and even overweight.
His words prompted a strong reaction on social media. “I get that Liverpool should be beating Atalanta but the disdain in which they’re being held by McManaman is remarkable. It’s like how dare they come and do this,” one fan tweeted, summing up the mood. Another added: “Can we talk about how biassed McManaman is again. But also I think he’s coming off very disrespectful towards Atalanta.”
The result was actually Atalanta’s second successive win at Anfield, following on from a 2-0 success in the Champions League in November 2020. Summing up the result, McManaman placed much more emphasis on Liverpool’s poor performance than the Italian side’s impressive display.
“This victory means more to them [Atalanta] of course because last time Liverpool had qualified and changed the team,” McManaman said. “This time this is against the favourites at Anfield, the favourites who people expected to walk to Dublin.
“And woah! They’ve put a stop to that talk. And do you know what, they haven’t deserved it tonight. Liverpool have been very average. They’ve been amazing this year and all the nice things that have been said about them, but tonight… Wow the wheels have come off.
“All the substitutions that have been made haven’t had an impact as they have had this year. It will be interesting to see what the manager has to say when he explains it away… because there’s a lot to explain!’”
Former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch was more forthcoming in his praise. “[Gian Piero] Gasperini, the way he set up his team on the front foot, the bravery, defensively they were pressing very high and Liverpool couldn’t get out,” he said. “The amount of long balls Liverpool had to play! And then second half they became more dominant, they could’ve scored more – they had a couple of one-on-ones. A fantastic performance.”
He added: “It’s such a difficult place to come, but they were given a sniff and they did such a professional job. Incredible support they had all night and they’ve just witnessed something incredible special from their club and they deserved it, that’s the main thing.”
