Liverpool’s game against Atalanta last night promised so much but ultimately descended into deep disappointment.
The Reds had always been unlikely to progress to the Europa League semi-finals last night having lost the first-leg 3-0.
However, after Mohamed Salah converted an early penalty, Liverpool looked to be in business. From there, they were better than they have been of late, but Jurgen Klopp’s team couldn’t muster anything meaningful.
So wasteful in front of goal recently, Liverpool simply couldn’t create against an Atalanta side stifling them with man-marking excellence. As the match petered out, there was something of a pre-season feeling to proceedings.
There were some positives for the Reds, though. One being goalkeeper Alisson Becker getting more minutes under his belt. However, the Brazilian left the match with a slightly unwanted record to his name.
Alisson Becker breaks European Opta record
It’s great to have Alisson back out there for Liverpool. He made a ridiculous save on his first start in over two months at the weekend, underlining just how important he is to the team.
Last night was a slightly different story, mind you. Although he did still have a couple of smart stops to perform, Alisson’s task was more about how he could use the ball.
With Atalanta pressing high and shutting off passing lanes, the 31-year-old was too often left pondering what to do in possession.
Ultimately, Alisson ended up going forwards and sideways to Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister and Ibrahima Konate a little too much.
It had felt like the goalie had the ball a lot watching the match. And as per Opta statistician Michael Reid on X, that bore out in the numbers.
“Alisson completed 82 passes tonight – the most by any player in the match, and the most by a goalkeeper in a match on Opta’s records in either the Europa League (from 2009-10) or Champions League (from 2003-04),” says Reid. Sheesh.
Why did Alisson touch the ball so much vs Atalanta
It was such a frustrating sight seeing Alisson stood over the ball weighing up what to do with it. As the data shows, this is not a usual occurrence.
That isn’t really necessarily anything to do with the Brazil international either. It’s natural to wonder what someone like Man City’s Ederson would have done with such possession, but it’s unlikely he’d have been able to do much more.
Atalanta were simply too effective at closing off passing lanes for Alisson. Without sufficient movement from the players in front of him, what was the ‘keeper supposed to do?
Sideways and backwards passes were made in the hope of recycling possession and pulling Atalanta out of shape. As Liverpool tired and a comeback became less and less likely, their movement waned.
You could see Ali getting visibly frustrated that he had the ball so much. It may be a while before this record is broken.