A lesson in productivity! Liverpool lost 0:3 to Atalanta

Liverpool failed to beat Atalanta in the opening match of the Europa League quarter-finals. The Italian team was very well prepared for Klopp’s selection and carried out their instructions to the letter. The English team got a nasty slap in the face, especially in productivity, when the opponent only needed 5 chances to score 3 goals.

Liverpool more dangerous in the first half

The first minutes predicted the whole course of the match. Liverpool kept possession of the ball, unfortunately for the home supporters the passing was slow and the opponent was able to close down dangerous spaces. Atalanta relied on quick counter attacks from the start of the game. The home team offered an unusually high number of them due to their defensive mistakes.

Already in the 5th minute, Pasalic had a big chance. The ball bounced to the Croatian midfielder in front of Kelleher’s goal, but the midfielder disregarded the offered chance. The home goalkeeper made a great save.

Nuñez and Elliot tried to get the pace of the game moving. The former was on his own against Musso, but just missed the target. The English midfielder tried to challenge the visitors’ goalkeeper in the 27th minute with a technical shot that was stopped by the crossbar.

Liverpool then slowed down instead of pressing forward. The passing was slow and the Atalanta defence had no problem moving and covering dangerous areas. Moreover, the mistakes in Liverpool’s defence were increasing. After one of them, Scammaca opened the scoring. Zappacosta centred brilliantly from the right and the Italo striker gave Kelleher no chance.

The home side tried for a quick response at the end of the half, but instead another disaster could have come. Another misplaced ball resulted in a solo effort from Koopmeiners, which was again dealt with by the excellent Kelleher. The home goalkeeper overshadowed his offensive teammates in the first act.

Klopp sent Salah and Szoboszlai into the 2nd half. The Hungarian midfielder got a shot off after a few seconds, but it was not dangerous. In the 55th minute, Nuñez brilliantly won the ball on the goal line and with a pass underneath him, he challenged Salah to shoot, the shot was brilliantly caught by Musso.

Another great chance a few seconds later was again burned by the Uruguayan marksman. Slowly and surely, the home side started to find gaps in the visitors’ defence. On the other side, we could see an increased focus on passing, so Atalanta had a hard time going on the counter-attack.

However, after a sporadic break Atalanta increased the score. Again after a centre from the right side, this time from De Ketelaer, Scammaca was free on the penalty spot and made no mistake. Atalanta thus gave the home side a proper lesson in productivity.

It was only in the 80th minute that the visitors’ defence was overcome by Salah, who split the net after a grounded centre from Robertson. However, the joy lasted only a few seconds due to an offside. The nail in Liverpool’s coffin was added in the 84th minute by Mario Pasalic. He closed the scoring.

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