Liverpool might have won 1-0 away at Atalanta on Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough to keep their dreams of a Dublin send-off for Jurgen Klopp alive.
In truth, the damage had already been done last weekend at Anfield. Despite a bright start, where the Reds took the lead on the night through a seventh-minute Mohamed Salah penalty, they rarely looked in danger of overturning the Serie A outfit’s 3-0 first leg lead.
Atalanta progress to face Marseille in the Europa League semi-finals, while Liverpool, the previous favourites to win the tournament, return to Merseyside licking their wounds. Again not at their best in Bergamo, Klopp now has it all to do to keep the below-par Reds in Premier League title contention with six games of their season, and the German’s reign, remaining.
READ MORE: Liverpool face harsh reality as genuine Mohamed Salah concern emerges
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp makes Premier League title claim after 'message' from Liverpool players
As the inquest into Liverpool’s loss of form continues, Atalanta have made history by reaching their first European semi-final since 1988. And celebrating a famous victory, the Italian media were delighted to see it come at the expense of one of European football’s biggest names…
‘Liverpool unable to overturn score against tenacity of a working goddess’
‘The feat is accomplished: 36 years after the first time, Atalanta returns to the semi-final of a European cup. The 0-3 at Anfield is too much even for a team used to comebacks like Liverpool, who this time are unable to overturn the score against the tenacity of a working Goddess and who never stops fighting.
‘The English change of pace does not arrive. As in the first leg, Gasp takes his time to change his cards on the table: the team is solid and doesn't concede even a crumb. The people of Bergamo are starting to really believe it: at the end of the match the explosion of joy for winning a semi-final that has been awaited and dreamed of since Strömberg's time, which is now reality.’
‘Never has a narrow home defeat been sweeter’
‘Sing and shout for joy, Atalanta. Dance and cry Bergamo with your Heroes, with Gasperini, the Percassi, Pagliuca, because you will never forget a night like this. The most beautiful night in your history, the most precious night, the night of the Goddess of racing, capable of an exceptional feat: qualifying for the semi-final.
‘Never has a narrow home defeat been sweeter for the Nerazzurri, semi-finalists of the Europa League and capable of eliminating the big favourites for the final victory.’
‘Atalanta gets luxury scalp after closing like a hedgehog’
‘The feat had already been achieved a week ago, now in Bergamo it was enough to put the bow on a double match that will remain in the history of Italian football.
‘Liverpool completes a horror week with two defeats and one elimination, Atalanta gets a luxury scalp and now dreams. Access to the final in Dublin is only two games away.
‘Atalanta closes like a hedgehog, responds blow for blow and proves that they are now great at European level too. The English don't have any left, Atalanta and an entire city can celebrate: for the first time, the Goddess is in the semi-finals of the Europa League.’
‘The wolf Klopp will not have proven to be so bad’
‘The Goddess of Endurance has nerves of steel and goes where she has never gone before. With the lungs of De Roon, the growth of Scamacca, the energy of Ederson and the intelligence of Koopmeiners, Gasperini's team cushioned the potentially deadly impact of Salah's initial penalty and forced Jurgen Klopp to bid farewell to the European Championship after nine years at Liverpool in any cold quarter-final, at least for a team that can still challenge for victory in the Premier League.
‘The wolf Klopp will not have proven to be so bad, as Gasp had joked on the eve, but here he needed to find his true Liverpool without a win in three games, regardless of whether or not the qualification was already compromised with the thunderous 3-0 suffered in Anfield seven days earlier.
‘Klopp asks his team for continuous movement, to misalign Bergamo's man-marking which caused so much damage in the pressing of the first leg and to look for sudden insertions like stabs. But every time Gasp's team manages to move from the attacking midfield upwards he gives the impression of being able to leave his mark, confirming the fragility of the English defensive phase.
‘Liverpool is no longer able to change pace and create danger: a sweeter defeat at home is impossible to imagine. And dreaming now for Atalanta costs nothing.’
‘Liverpool vulnerable at back with sensational blunders’
‘A courageous and mature Atalanta eliminates Liverpool and writes history. Liverpool are scary with great attacking bursts, but they also seem vulnerable at the back with sensational blunders. Liverpool tried to win the game in the second half but Atalanta didn't give up an inch, in fact if you look at the scoreboard it's the Nerazzurri who are the most dangerous.
‘It's difficult to say who deserved more because it was an excellent performance from the whole team which demonstrates the maturity of a great team. Great performance that rewrites the history of the club.’
