Liverpool were knocked out of the Europa League at the quarter-final stage on Thursday night.

Jurgen Klopp’s Reds had a mountain to climb against Atalanta in the second leg after losing 3-0 at Anfield in the first leg.

Admittedly, Liverpool did make the perfect start in Bergamo by winning a penalty in the fifth minute of the match.

Anfield talisman Mohamed Salah stepped up to the spot and converted his effort from 12 yards out to give the Reds the perfect springboard.

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Sadly, Liverpool were unable to build on it.

The Reds boasted over 70 percent of possession, but could only muster five shots on target.

Photo by Timothy Rogers/Getty Images

Liverpool were wasteful for much of the game.

One such instance which summed things up came not long after the hour when Cody Gakpo needlessly relinquished possession.

BBC Sport pundit and former Reds defender Stephen Warnock was not impressed by what he saw from the 24-year-old.

“They make a mess of it Liverpool,” he said on Radio 5 Live.

“Cody Gakpo finds himself free and he should lay it off to Dominik Szoboszlai.

For instance, he delivered a great lay-off for Luis Diaz and a long ball over the top for Salah.

In the end, Liverpool were just not really at the races.

By the latter stages of the match, the Reds just seemed out of it.

The Reds will now need to bounce back quickly, with a Premier League trip to Fulham on Sunday.

Even if things don’t go to plan with regards to the title, Liverpool are certainly a lot more likely to make it into the Champions League next season.

And let’s face it, that’s the European competition that the Reds should be playing in year in, year out.