The 2023/24 Europa League season continues, and in the first leg of the quarter-finals, Liverpool, the biggest favourites to win the title, suffered a shock 3-0 defeat to Atalanta at Anfield, and Klopp is in danger of collapsing on both fronts. At 3 o'clock in the morning on April 19, Beijing time, in a key battle in the second leg of the Europa League 1/4 finals, the Reds Liverpool challenged Atalanta away, and due to copyright reasons, CCTV's CCTV5 sports channel will not broadcast the game live.
The two teams played the first leg at Anfield, with Atalanta retrenching themselves defending and looking for an opportunity to counter-attack. Liverpool have an absolute advantage at home, with a close ball rate of 70% and 19 shots in the field, but the ability to grasp the opportunity in front of goal is limited, Nunez missed a single chance, Elliott hit the crossbar, Atalanta used an efficient counterattack by Scamacca scored a goal in each half, and in stoppage time, Pasalic sealed the win, and finally Atalanta won 3-0 away to Liverpool, taking the lead.
Liverpool have met Atalanta three times in European competition, losing twice at home and failing to score a goal, and in the 2020/21 Champions League group stage, Liverpool thrashed Atalanta by five goals away from home, but lost 2-0 at home, coupled with a heavy first-leg defeat, Atalanta won two in a row at Anfield, a feat that many of Europe's top clubs have not done.
In preparation for the second leg, Atalanta were distracted in the last round of Serie A and ended up drawing with Verona, missing out on closing the gap between the top four. Liverpool was affected by the Europa League fiasco, losing 0-1 at home to Crystal Palace in the last round of the Premier League, suffering two consecutive defeats in all competitions, the Premier League title race was hit hard, and the Europa League was also in danger of being eliminated, and Klopp's team rarely showed signs of collapse.
The value gap between Atalanta and Liverpool is obvious, Liverpool is worth 921 million euros, which is the most expensive team in the Europa League, while Atalanta is worth only 350 million euros, and the sum of the two teams is converted into 9.6 billion yuan. Liverpool have stars such as Salah, Dias, Jota, Nunez, Gakpo, McAllister and Sobersloy. Atalanta has the likes of Lookman, Scamacca and Pasalic.
Judging from the injury situation of both teams, Atalanta, Scalvini and Kolasinac will probably not be able to play. For Liverpool, Matip, Doke, Thiago and Bradley are injured and unable to play. With Liverpool at a disadvantage in the Premier League, a win in the next round away to Fulham is necessary to keep their title hopes alive.
Jurgen Klopp faces a dilemma between giving up the Europa League and defending the league or beating Atalanta for a comeback, as the only trophy he hasn't won during his tenure at Liverpool is the Europa League, but the Premier League means a lot to Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp is expected to rotate his starting line-up appropriately in the Europa League.
Atalanta are in contention for Champions League qualification in Serie A, eight points off the Champions League zone, but in the Europa League, Atalanta managed to hold on to the first leg and advance to the semi-finals to qualify for next season's Champions League. This game prediction Atalanta remain unbeaten at home.