Liverpool fans are waking up this morning realising that last night’s result against Atalanta was not some kind of awful nightmare. Sorry Reds, but this really happened.
Few had seen such a toothless and insipid display coming from Liverpool, but they got what they deserved against a well-drilled Atalanta side.
As Virgil van Dijk alluded to after the game, the tie isn’t quite done just yet. But it will now take a huge effort from the Reds to get them through to the Europa League semi-final.
Quite why Liverpool were so poor is hard to deduce exactly. However, a lot of credit should go towards Atalanta and their manager, Gian Piero Gasperini.
Gasperini has been a phenomenal figure for La Dea, completely transforming the club since arriving in 2016. And yesterday at Anfield just might have been his masterpiece. Nevertheless, the 66-year-old was still graceful in victory, sparing a thought for the ‘extraordinary’ Liverpool his team had beaten.
What did Gian Piero Gasperini say about Liverpool
It was painful to see Gasperini and his team’s celebrations on the pitch at Anfield last night. Although you can’t say anything other than they’d thoroughly deserved it. Liverpool fans recognised that and applauded their victors.
There was no real needle to the game or anything like that, they celebrated in the right spirit and stayed humble afterwards, too. After all, if there’s one team that could come back from this, it’s Liverpool.
This is something Gasperini alluded to while speaking via Football Italia last night. The experienced coach knows there’s still some danger lurking.
“Obviously, we are happy with the 3-0 win and it is a good cushion, but Liverpool are an extraordinary team who can score at any moment,” said the Italian.
“In the second leg we need to defend the same way we did, but also attack them the same way too. I don’t know if we’ll be able to create as many chances as we had tonight, but we have to try, because there is no halfway approach with Liverpool. Once they start attacking and scoring goals, they don’t stop.
“I still remember the incredible Champions League Final [ in 2005]when Milan were 3-0 up, there seemed to be an abyss between the two teams, but in six minutes they got it back to 3-3. It seemed impossible. That is the spirit of Liverpool, they don’t give up. So in order to go forward, we will have to repeat ourselves.”
Can Liverpool turn this around
We all know it’s going to be incredibly difficult for Liverpool to come back from this now. Had they been able to keep it to 2-0, things would feel a little easier.
But Dominik Szoboszlai’s sloppiness ended up really costing the Reds for the third goal. His ball back to Ibrahima Konate was just asking for trouble. At 3-0 the tie feels a whole lot different.
Still, if Liverpool head to Bergamo with the right mindset, then maybe they can just plant a seed of doubt into Atalanta minds. 3-0 up for a second-leg is a hard score line to play. If the Reds can get an early goal and bring their best football, then they can still do something.
However, we must all now face the possibility that Jurgen Klopp’s time at the club is not going to have the fairy-tale Dublin ending it seemed to be heading for. That’s life sometimes.