Liverpool are back in Europa League action this Thursday as Atalanta come to town.
In the midst of a pretty intense battle at the top of the Premier League, it’ll be nice for the Reds to have a bit of distraction.
Atalanta are the opposition, and will present a challenge to Liverpool. Their players have already spoken of their excitement at playing at Anfield. The Reds will have to be up for it.
Still, Liverpool should be favourites. Jurgen Klopp’s side are being tipped to win the whole competition and should really have too much for their Italian visitors.
If they do, then they’ll face either Marseille or Benfica in the semi-final. And if they progress beyond that, then they’ll set up what will be Klopp’s final game, in Dublin of all places. There have been some concerns about the Irish capital’s suitability to host though, and those concerns might have now been justified today.
What have UEFA done today
There’s no question that Dublin would be an absolutely brilliant place for Liverpool to contest a European final. In terms of supporters, the city is practically a second home for the club.
It would also be the perfect place to send Klopp off as Reds manager. If Liverpool did end up winning it, the party would be unrivalled.
However, there is legitimate worry that the Aviva Stadium, which is due to host the game, simply isn’t big enough.
The ground holds just 48,000 seats. Not many for a European final, particularly one involving Liverpool. And according to journalist James Pearce on X today, if they qualify, the Reds are due to get just a quarter of the allocation.
“UEFA confirm that LFC will get 12,000 tickets if they reach the Europa League final in Dublin on May 22,” Pearce reports. “Stadium holds 48,000.”
Liverpool supporters usually travel in their numbers to European finals. You can bet that there’ll be far, far more than the 12,000 with tickets that make the journey. But that makes it all the more concerning.
Who else is still in the Europa League
Of course, the caveat to this is that there’s absolutely no guarantee that Liverpool will make it to the Europa League final. Atalanta are a good side for starters, and won’t go quietly.
Beyond that, Marseille are always a tricky proposition, while the Reds found out how awkward Benfica can be en-route to the Champions League final in 2022. On the other side of the draw, Bayer Leverkusen should be favourites, although West Ham, AC Milan and Roma will have something to say about that.
From UEFA’s point of view, most of those sides would probably be more or less fine with the allocation. It is Europe’s secondary competition after all and the showpiece tends to be at similar sized stadiums.
But with Klopp’s potential last game falling on the final, there will be greater demand than ever from Liverpool fans. Only a few of them are going to get lucky. The rest will be fuming today.