The shock of this season’s Europa League took place on Thursday when Atalanta departed Anfield after a well-deserved 3-0 win over Liverpool.
The Reds were amongst the favourites to win the trophy this season, but it will take a comeback of Barcelona proportions if they want to still be in with a chance of getting their game on the cup.
Jurgen Klopp didn’t hide behind any excuses as to what caused the defeat during his post-match interviews, simply giving credit to the Serie A side for being the better team and publicly outing his players for not being good enough.
Liverpool were outclassed by Atalanta
The sense of shock around the famous old ground was palpable too. Those in attendance simply couldn’t believe what they were seeing, but that’s perhaps doing a disservice to a team that haven’t been that bad in 2023/24.
Gian Piero Gasperini is a wily old campaigner, and he will have known exactly the system to play against the Reds well in advance of the tie.
That Klopp felt the need to rotate his players simply played right into the Italian club’s hands.
It’s a shuffling of the pack that Fabrizio Romano felt was necessary too.
“I don’t think Jurgen Klopp underestimated Gasperini, because he knows well that Gian Piero is an excellent coach,” he told CaughtOffside for his Daily Briefing.
“He just rotated because can’t play every 3 days with the same players, it’s normal.
“I expected Atalanta to deliver an aggressive, offensive performance because it’s what they always do in big European games.
“They love the 1 v 1’s all over the pitch, and I also think they had their best night… as recently in Serie A they had some issues.”
Make no mistake, if Klopp can galvanise his players again to produce a performance to rank alongside the Dortmund and Barca comebacks, he will go down in club history as one of the very best to have ever sat in the Anfield dugout.
Even if Liverpool were knocked out, his legend is already assured.
His nine-year tenure has been full of laughter, success, humanity and drive to be the very best, and he will move on from the club having marked an era.
That, more than any result, is what he should be remembered for.