A major setback came the way of Jurgen Klopp’s men in their endeavour to seal a Round of 16 qualification in the UEFA Champions League as the Merseysiders were handed a 2-0 loss by Atalanta on Wednesday night.
Two goals within a matter of minutes from the visitors in the second-half meant that Liverpool FC were unable to secure a fourth successive victory in the group stage fixture list, however, the Reds do stay on top of the pile as Premier League priorities return for them with a trip to Brighton this weekend.
TEAM NEWS
Klopp made a number of changes to his XI for the mid-week UCL clash, as Andy Robertson, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota, and Fabinho all dropped down to the bench after having starred in last Sunday’s league win over Leicester City.
Summer arrival Kostas Tsimikas was handed his first Champions League appearance in the Liverpool FC colours, and the starlet duo of Rhys Williams and Neco Williams were slotted in the four-man defence.
Divock Origi, a largely fringe first-teamer for the Anfield outfit this season, started up top on the pitch, flanked by Sadio Mane and the returning Mohammad Salah on either wing.
MATCH PROCEEDINGS
Drawing sharp contrast to the reverse fixture held last month, a game which was won 5-0 by Liverpool FC, it was Atalanta who dominated early proceedings at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men were all over the Merseysiders in the opening minutes, and an early chance fell Josip Iličić’s way, only for the attacker to curl his shot wide off Alisson Becker’s goal.
However, Atalanta looked far from finished in their pursuit to get an early opening goal, one which could give them a large amount of breathing room when going up against a side of Liverpool FC’s calibre.
Robin Gosens had a clear chance to find the back of the net, only for the full-back to force a fantastic near-post save from the Reds No.1 Alisson.
Klopp’s men did not have the best of attacking outings on Wednesday night, which was quite evident in the displays of the Origi-Mane-Salah trio. The latter, however, did get an opportunity to trouble the Atalanta backline as the first-half neared its end but the Egyptian’s effort was not the best of chances to hand the Merseysiders a one-goal advantage heading into the closing 45 minutes.
After the break, Atalanta once again grabbed hold of the game and it looked a matter of a few minutes before Gasperini’s’s side found the back of the net.
And it was the skipper, Alejandro Gomez who made the link-up play for his side, with the Argentine picking out the lurking Iličić’s with a fantastic delivery, and the latter was clinical in his effort to put the ball past Alisson as the visitors took a deserved 1-0 lead with 30 minutes still to play for.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp decided to make a plethora of changes from the Liverpool FC bench, and the quartet of Firmino, Fabinho, Jota, and Robertson all stepped onto the pitch to salvage something of the Anfield showdown.
However, neither of the introductory Reds stars were able to defy their Italian opponents from increasing their advantage as Gosens made it 2-0 for Atalanta as a result of another superb play engineered by Alejandro Gomez.
A loss to Atalanta on Wednesday night meant that the Merseyside Reds will have to extend the waiting period for sealing qualification to the Round of 16 in Europe’s most elite club competition.
Matchday four ends in defeat.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 25, 2020
However, Klopp’s men still occupy the top spot in the Group D standings of the UEFA Champions League and hope that the loss suffered by them in the mid-week fixture turns out to be just an off-day.
