A round-up of the latest Liverpool news as Jurgen Klopp issues a request for his last game at Anfield and the Reds start to eye Ruben Amorim’s possible backroom staff.
Alexis Mac Allister opens up on Liverpool’s reaction to losing to Atalanta
Liverpool star Alexis Mac Allister has admitted that losing the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Atalanta BC ‘did not feel good’. The Reds now have a mountain to climb when they travel to Bergamo next Thursday after falling to a 3-0 defeat at Anfield this week.
Wastefulness in the area from Darwin Nunez came home to cost Jurgen Klopp’s team. Goals from Gianluca Scamacca (38’, 60’) and Mario Pasalic (83’) have given Atalanta a fine chance to eliminate Liverpool. It was the Reds’ heaviest defeat so far this season and their sixth loss.
Mac Allister now concedes that the mood in the Liverpool squad started to drop during their defeat to Atalanta. It also carried into the dressing room with every player feeling down due to the result. The midfielder also acknowledges that Atalanta did well to frustrate Liverpool.
“There was not much to say – I think we all feel the same,” he told Liverpool’s website. “It didn’t feel good during the game and it didn’t feel good afterwards. It’s as simple as that.
“We couldn’t do what we wanted [and] what we know. It’s [a] credit to them, as well, [as] they did a very good game.”
Read more about what Mac Allister has said about Liverpool’s loss to Atalanta, here.
Liverpool could hire Hugo Viana if Ruben Amorim replaces Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool could also hire a member of Ruben Amorim’s backroom team in Hugo Viana if the Sporting CP coach now replaces Jurgen Klopp. That is according to Pedro Sepulveda, who notes that Viana is not certain to stay at the Estadio Jose Alvalade if Amorim leaves the club.
Amorim is among the leading candidates to take over at Anfield after Klopp announced the German will step down after almost nine years in charge. So, Liverpool are now exploring a potential move to also hire Viana. But Newcastle United also now have their eyes on Viana.
Viana has worked as Sporting’s director of football since September 2018 after learning his trade at Os Belenenses. It marked a return to the Leoes for the 41-year-old, as well, having played for the club from 1998 to 2002 when the Sporting product then signed for Newcastle.
Sepulveda does not suggest which role Viana would occupy in Amorim’s potential staff with Liverpool. The Reds announced the appointment of AFC Bournemouth’s technical director Richard Hughes as their sporting director in March. He will take up the position this summer.
Read more about Liverpool’s interest in Viana joining Amorim’s potential staff, here.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp issues a request for his final game at Anfield
Jurgen Klopp has now asked Liverpool to arrange for the German punk rock band, Die Toten Hosen, to play at his final game at Anfield. The 56-year-old will oversee his final home game when the Reds host Wolves on the last day of the 2023/24 Premier League term on May 19.
While a Beatles song would be an ‘easy’ choice, Klopp notes that a few other teams also use their music. So, he would like the Reds to arrange for Die Toten Hosen to perform as he has a special connection with the band after his Bundesliga-winning tenure at Borussia Dortmund.
“A band that’s alive is Die Toten Hosen, the real translation is ‘The Dead Pants’,” Klopp told Sky News. “It’s a punk rock band.
“The lead singer, Campino, is a good friend of mine and the biggest LFC supporter on the planet. Actually, if they could sing at Anfield or whatever, it would probably be the biggest day of his life.
“The song I love the most of theirs is a song that came out in 2012 when we won the double with Dortmund. The name of the song is ‘Tage wie diese’, ‘On days like this’. It was like made for us. On days like this, anything is possible and these kinds of things.”
Read more about what Klopp has had to say about his final game with Liverpool, here.