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A night to forget for the Premier league side Liverpool as they were thrashed 3-0 at their home stadium. The visitors came in intimidated by the auras of the players together with their fans. For the first thirty minutes, the home side dominated possession and looked very comfortable moving forward.
This all went south as they were losing patience as they failed to act upon two easy chances of going ahead. Atalanta took this opportunity and Davide Zappacosta laid up a nice little cutback to Scamacca who capitalized on the event. The shot barreled under the Liverpool goalkeeper’s arm leaving the defenders to play the blame game on who was marking whom.
Their supporters however kept a high spirit as they were used to trailing which usually sets up a colorful comeback. They kept cheering their team on. Atalanta now had all the momentum in the world as they kept attacking in droves. The main blame to this went to the Liverpool captain who had a less than satisfactory performance. He was seen not applying pressure to the ball holder and his attitude appeared nonchalant.
After the break at half time, the Liverpool side came back looking re-energized and ready to have at it. This only lasted for fifteen minutes however as Atalanta looked to increase to their advantage. In the sixtieth minute, the Liverpool defense went “missing” again as Gianluca Scamacca finished a cool volley into the bottom corner of the net leaving the keeper standing. The score now 2-0 past the hour mark.
This was frustrating to watch for Liverpool fans as they were used to their defense being their most notable strength. Atalanta dealt the finishing blow in the eighty fourth minute after Dominic Szoboszlai gave away the ball cheaply in the midfield and Ederson went away galloping.
With all his efforts, the Liverpool goalkeeper only managed to poorly parry the ball which ended up with Pasalic who tapped the ball into an empty net. "Nothing positive to say about the game," said Klopp. "They [Atalanta] 100 per cent deserved it. It was a really bad game. I didn't like our tactical discipline. We were everywhere. No counter press. I know the boys can play better football, but not tonight." With this being Jürgen Klopp’s farewell season, last night could be the last time playing European football in Anfield.
