Atalanta 0-1 Liverpool: A disappointing finale to Jurgen Klopp’s European career

After Liverpool lost 3-1 on aggregate against Atalanta in the last eight of the Europa League, Jurgen Klopp conceded that Atalanta should have advanced to the semi-finals.

Mohamed Salah’s early penalty gave the Reds a 1-0 lead in the second leg at Stadio di Bergamo on Thursday night. However, they were unable to reverse the three-goal advantage Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had from the opening game at Anfield last week.

Regarding the match and Liverpool’s elimination from the competition, Klopp stated: “I was thrilled with how we began the game.” We misplaced the tie at home, not tonight. For this reason, we must congratulate Atalanta, and doing so is extremely simple, since they deserved to win.

“You deserve to advance, without a doubt, especially after defeating us 3-1 in a tie. However, I really enjoyed our game, especially the beginning. I really liked the dedication, the drive, and the strength we gained in this game, but it was obvious that we needed to occasionally score in order to stop these kinds of things; otherwise, it could be difficult to maintain that for more than 90 minutes.

As is usually the case, a second goal would have been crucial because, although Atalanta began the game with great strength and confidence, we may have given them cause for concern in the few opportunities we had. I am perfectly okay with that because they realized at that point that it would not be simple, and that is the game we provided them.