(Football news) La Dea’s stunning 3-0 victory in last week’s first meeting stunned Anfield, but the Reds are accustomed to erasing apparently insurmountable deficits on the continent.
After eliminating a side managed by a possible future manager of Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon under Ruben Amorim, Atalanta made their way back to England for a three-year reunion with the Reds, whom they famously defeated at Anfield during the 2020–21 Champions League group stage.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s team miraculously improved their 2-0 victory behind closed doors, thanks in large part to Jurgen Klopp’s team’s concerning wastefulness. Gianluca Scamacca’s brace and Mario Pasalic’s finish drove the visiting Atalanta supporters into a frenzy.
Two players who failed to come good in the Premier League, Scamacca and Pasalic helped La Dea inflict Liverpool’s joint-heaviest European home defeat upon them last week, and no other team has won both of their first two continental away matches against the six-time European champions.
Liverpool’s penchant for breathtaking turnarounds means that Gasperini’s men are far from home and hosed, but from 132 previous instances, no Europa League/UEFA Cup team has ever been eliminated from the tournament after winning the first leg of a knockout tie by at least three goals away from home.
Atalanta were unable to carry last Thursday’s momentum forward to the weekend’s Serie A battle with Hellas Verona, though – letting a 2-0 lead slip in a 2-2 home draw – and the shock beating of Liverpool represents only the hosts’ third win from their last 11 contests across all competitions.
Gasperini’s men should not be asking Calcio counterparts AC Milan or Barcelona for pointers on how to avoid multiple-goal capitulations against Liverpool, but if the Reds’ recent profligacy is anything to go by, Atalanta can simply hope for their visitors to be their own worst enemies once again.
After failing to convert a multitude of opportunities on April 11, Liverpool’s springtime plight continued in a similarly agonising Premier League home beating at the hands of Crystal Palace on Sunday, where Eberechi Eze condemned the Reds to their first top-flight home loss in nearly 18 months.
Suffering successive defeats for the first time since a run of three in March/April 2023, the top-flight crown is now out of Liverpool’s hands as Manchester City lead the way at the summit, leading some of the Reds faithful to join their Arsenal counterparts in declaring the title race a foregone conclusion.
Liverpool has now gone nine games without a clean sheet in all competitions, in addition to their inability to convert on huge opportunities. However, a run of four straight away games should be warmly greeted by a Reds club that has scored in all of its road games this 2023–24 season.
A mind-boggling comeback is definitely not out of the question because it has been just over a year since Klopp’s team was shut out on the road against Chelsea in April of last year. Their only other trip to Atalanta in the 2020–21 Champions League ended in a decisive 5-0 victory.
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