Reds beaten at their own game by The Nerazzurri
Liverpool 0 Atalanta 3, 11th April 2024.
LIVERPOOL 0
ATALANTA 3 (Scamacca 38 and 60, Pašalić 83)
Well this wasn’t in the script of the Jürgen Klopp farewell tour was it?
The 0–3 score line speaks volumes and whilst it remains difficult to comprehend (and only the second occasion all season when Liverpool haven’t scored and their first home defeat since Real Madrid gave them a football lesson ten months ago) the score line is correct and true and, whisper it, even a little light for an Atalanta team who played and comprehensively beat the Reds at their own high pressing game and combined with a man-marking system all over the pitch deserved to take an even heavier 1st Leg advantage back to Bergamo.
The ugly truth is that after a bright start the Reds were pressed and harried whenever in possession and with that man-marking system through every part of the pitch Liverpool resorted to unrecognisable long hopeful balls forward and when barely winning any second or contested loose balls their Italian visitors had full control of both the ball and the game as a whole. With a tenacious press from the attacking front three of Teun Koopmeiners, Charles De Ketelaere and double goal scorer Gianluca Scamacca, Liverpool simply couldn’t get going or gain any fluid forward momentum and were a tad fortunate to trail by just one goal at half-time. Mario Pašalić should have given the visitors the lead inside 2 minutes and was only denied by an instinctive save from Caoimhin Kelleher and whilst the Irishman in the Reds goal was culpable for Scamacca’s first goal on 38 minutes the goal was coming and aptly demonstrated by the defence in front of him parting like the Red Sea on the cusp of half-time when Charles De Ketelaere ran clear and should have scored the second goal his team’s performance thoroughly merited.
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The ugly truths continued in a second half that frankly not only didn’t get better for Liverpool but in fact deteriorated despite Klopp’s triple half-time substitution introducing Dominik Szoboszlai, Andy Robertson and Mo Salah into the fray and in front of a very quiet Anfield. Perhaps quietened by a brilliantly dominant and ruthless display from their visitors, a further ugly truth is that this storied football ground was quiet from the get-go and aside from Harvey Elliott rattling the corner of the crossbar and post on 25 minutes, the Reds faithful had to wait until the 54th minute for Mo Salah to force a meaningful save from Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso and even when trailing 0–1 or even the more disastrous 0–2 and 0–3 only Luis Díaz on 85 minutes and Dominik Szoboszlai on the cusp of the full-time whistle forced the giant Argentine goalkeeper to dirty his gloves.
Rather than an energised and cavalry charge forcing an equalising goal and comeback seen so many times this season, the Reds wilted under the man-marking pressure exerted by Gian Piero Gasperini’s charges, the team as a whole made more stray passes and glaring errors than has been seen all season long and not only was a comeback nowhere in sight the eventual three goal defeat could and should have been even heavier. Whilst the defensive gap between Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konaté was “monstrous” according to ex Liverpool Red Steve McManaman on TV co-commentary duties, what wasn’t monstrous was Gianluca Scamacca’s beautifully insouciant finish on the hour and if that wasn’t bad enough, Dominik Szoboszlai lazily and limply gifted possession of the ball with 7 minutes remaining, Scamacca found arguable “Man of the Match” Éderson with a delightful pass, Kelleher saved the original goal bound effort only to see Mario Pašalić gleefully tap in the easy rebound.
More ugly truths suggest Atalanta are comfortably through to the Europa League Semi-Finals and will not be relinquishing their three goal advantage in the return leg next Thursday. Had Gianluca Scamacca completed his hat-trick on 80 minutes with a fairly rudimentary close-in header then the Italians would have held a four goal advantage and almost certainly through to face either Benfica or Marseille.
But perhaps the ugliest truth of all this evening is that Atalanta won 3–0 and won comfortably and very impressively, and the Liverpool dream (and that of their manager) of a glory lined finish by lifting the Europa League in Dublin in May, is all but over.
Let’s see what the great man thought of events this evening:
A final word from The Boss
“We can make the shortest press conference of all time, it just was a really bad game, oh my God. So we started well, really well, and then didn’t continue. I think even before they scored but we just lost the plot a little bit, like we were everywhere and nowhere. Midfield was spread like that, right midfielder left side, left midfielder, striker… I didn’t recognise that, that was really strange. In football terms that’s tactical discipline. But anyhow we had a big chance I think from Darwin Nunez and then unlucky with Harvey Elliott. Then they scored the goal and then we kept playing into their hands, to be honest. A really good example [of] how it could have looked is the goal we scored because that’s [the] striker wide, full-back underlap in a massive space, arrives, has all the time in the world, passes the ball and Mo Salah scores the goal. It was then offside but that’s one thing. We should have had these situations more often”.
“We played a bad game, we deserved to lose and we must feel that now. But the boys have exactly this night to feel bad about it and then we have to build up again for the Crystal Palace game, so that’s how it is. You ask me probably about the game next Thursday but there is Crystal Palace in between. So, congratulations Atalanta, really well done”.
Thanks for reading.