Liverpool's Painful Defeat at Anfield
Liverpool suffered a terrible and painful defeat at home against Atalanta in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals.
Disastrous. There's no other way to describe Liverpool's match on Thursday against Atalanta. The Italian team, capitalizing on the three chances they had, turned Anfield upside down and secured a (0-3) victory that forces the English team to miraculously overturn the scoreline in Bergamo to stay alive in Europe.
Few defeats at Anfield are as shockingly remembered as Liverpool's. Few as clear and deserved as this Thursday's. A defeat that left 'Reds' fans shaking their heads and many of them leaving Anfield several minutes before the match ended.
A rarity, explained by the 0-3 that the Italians pulled off against all odds in England, which began after Darwin Núñez missed a one-on-one against Juan Mussi and unleashed Atalanta's goal-scoring spree.
Gianluca Scamacca, a familiar face from the Premier League who didn't succeed at West Ham United, opened the scoring by tapping in a pass from Davide Zappacosta, another player who left much to be desired in London, this time at Chelsea. The goal had a lot of responsibility on Kelleher, who, to be honest, completely missed it.
It was a total surprise, as Liverpool was the clear favorite and hadn't lost at Anfield for over a year (14 months), but in the second half, the bill kept mounting for the English, once again under the name of Scamacca.
The Italian forward, completely unmarked and as if success was not with him, slotted home a cross from Charles De Ketelare. He barely celebrated, fueling the anger of an Anfield that couldn't believe what it was seeing. Atalanta, supposedly an inferior opponent, was leading 0-2. And there was still one more blow to come.
It arrived in the last ten minutes when Mario Pasalic tapped in a poor clearance from Kelleher. The Irishman had a lot to answer for and had his worst night, leaving Liverpool's chances practically reduced to zero.
Without a doubt, it was Liverpool's worst European night since Jürgen Klopp arrived in 2015. It leaves them hoping for a miracle in Italy to advance to the semifinals, a comeback similar to the one achieved in 2018 against Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals. On that night in May, they had the advantage of playing at Anfield, but this time, they will have to do it on enemy territory. The toughest challenge yet to bid farewell to Klopp in the best possible way.
