Liverpool’s Dublin dream in tatters as Atalanta run riot

• Published date: 12 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

Gianluca Scamacca, the former West Ham disappointment, scored twice as the Italians displayed the cutting edge and defensive fortitude that Liverpool sorely lacked all night. It was Liverpool’s first home defeat in 26 matches this season and they will need another famous comeback to preserve their hopes of bidding farewell to Klopp at the Aviva Stadium next month

Flags were conspicuous by their absence on the Kop as fans staged a simple but effective protest against Liverpool’s decision to raise ticket prices by 2 per cent next season.

The displays, organised by supporters group Spion Kop 1906, have become an established feature of European nights at Anfield and create an image that is a marketing dream for the club. This was an exception. Only one banner was unfurled before kick off after Spion Kop withheld its services for the night. It read: “No to ticket price increases”.

Apprehensive and vulnerable The lack of colour, but not noise, was not the only unusual aspect of a European quarterfinal at Anfield. Liverpool were apprehensive and vulnerable in the first half against an Atalanta team that took them on at their own pressing game. The Italians, unbeaten in their previous 10 Europa League away fixtures, a sequence stretching back six years, were the more dangerous side from the start. With midfielders Mario Pasalic and Teun Koopmeiners fixing on Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo respectively, the visitors disrupted Liverpool’s attempts to play out from the back and starved Klopp’s forward line of service as a result. The frequency and ease with which Atalanta exploited gaps in the home defence added to Liverpool’s worries.

Pasalic should have put Gian Piero Gasperini’s side ahead in the opening minutes when Virgil van Dijk’s awkward clearance struck Charles De Ketelaere and rebounded into his path. The midfielder was five yards out and unmarked in front of goal but his snap-shot struck Caoimhín Kelleher in the face and deflected out for a corner. A busy, mixed night for the Liverpool goalkeeper was under way.

Liverpool responded immediately with Darwin Núñez testing Atalanta keeper Juan Musso on a counter-attack from the resulting corner. Mac Allister sent a good chance over the bar from a Harvey Elliott pull back and Núñez, sent clean through by Curtis Jones, poked an even clearer opportunity wide with only Musso to beat.

That was wasteful, but there was also misfortune for Liverpool when Kostas Tsimikas’ free-kick landed at Elliott’s feet on the...