The Premier League is already the highest level league in Europe and even the world, with strong competitiveness, among which the hegemon Manchester City has been crowned the champion of the Champions League and the Club World Cup. In the 2023/24 season, Premier League teams continue to be favored, with many teams participating in the Champions League and Europa League, and the strength of each team is in an absolute advantage in European competitions, among which Manchester City has become the first favorite in the Champions League this season as the defending champion of the Champions League, and Liverpool has become the first favorite in the Europa League.
Unfortunately, the fierce competition within the Premier League has not only made Manchester City and Liverpool's two favorites suffer from European competition, but other Premier League teams have also failed to join the Champions League and Europa League contention. After the completion of the Champions League quarterfinals, Manchester City was eliminated by Real Madrid with an aggregate score of 7-8, and the top 4 teams in the Champions League were born, locked in Real Madrid, Bayern, Paris Saint-Germain, and Dortmund. In the 1/4 finals of the Europa League, Liverpool lost 0-3 at home to Atalanta in the first leg, and the fate of the early exit was predetermined.
In the second leg, Liverpool was weak away from home and could not win by a big score, defeating Atalanta 1-0 and being eliminated by Atalanta with an aggregate score of 1-3. Liverpool's whole team is worth 920 million euros, which can be said to be the only one in the Europa League, but the overall state is not good, and the scum Klopp announced his departure at the end of the season early, and the team's morale and state are up and down.
In the face of Atalanta, Liverpool's style of play is considered to be restrained, Liverpool under Klopp is good at wide open and closed games, advocating offense, especially the fast attack is very sharp, Atalanta directly chooses to defend, and then waits for the opportunity to counterattack, which makes Liverpool's offensive efficiency greatly reduced. In the first leg, Liverpool had 70% possession, 19-11 shots on goal and 5-7 shots on target compared to Atalanta, and finally lost 0-3 in shame. In the second leg, Liverpool had 70% possession, 10-8 shots on goal and 5-2 shots on target compared to Atalanta, and finally turned into a narrow 1-0 victory.
Liverpool's only goal was scored by Mohamed Salah, who scored from the penalty spot in the seventh minute and Alexander-Arnold converted a penalty that gave Salah a chance to give Liverpool a 2-0 lead in the first half of the second leg, but there was a poor performance in the 40th minute of the game. In addition to the biggest favorite Liverpool, another favorite in the Europa League, AC Milan, is also out, and the top 4 of the Europa League are locked in Marseille, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, and Roma. So far, the Premier League has hit a nine-year low, and for the first time since the 2014/15 season, no team has reached the last four of the Champions League and Europa League.
After the game, Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp was convinced, bluntly saying in an interview that Atalanta should have advanced to the semi-finals, while emphasizing that Liverpool could not guarantee a high-intensity rhythm for 90 minutes, resulting in inconsistent performances in the first and second halves. As for the 1-0 away result, Klopp said that he is already very satisfied with the result and will go all out in the league next. In the Premier League, Liverpool is temporarily third with 71 points, Manchester City leads with 73 points, and Arsenal is second with 72 points, and Liverpool still has a chance to compete for the title.