UEL: Liverpool shocked by Italian side

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 Liverpool 0 - 3 Atalanta

A few weeks ago, Liverpool fans were dreaming of 4 trophies. This time next week, there's every chance that they will only be fighting to add the Premier League to their Carabao Cup. 

The Anfield side faces a huge battle to stay in the Europa League after suffering a home defeat to Atalanta in the quarter-final first leg. 

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Let's explore what happened. 

The former West Ham United forward Gianluca Scamacca scored in each half. Ex-Chelsea player Mario Pasalic added a late third goal to ensure the Italians start strong favourites to reach the semi-finals when the sides meet in the return leg in Bergamo. 

After a fairly open first 30 minutes or so, Scamacca managed to break the deadlock in the 38th minute after Caoimhin Kelleher allowed his low drive to creep under him.

On a deeply frustrating night for below-par Liverpool, Darwin Nunez missed two big chances to give Liverpool a foothold in the match. Harvey Elliott's curling attempt somehow managed to hit the bar before dropping on to the post.

Did Klopp make too many changes?

Mohamed Salah, who started on the bench, forced a fine save from Juan Musso after Kelleher had atoned for his error to stop the unmarked Teun Koopmeiners from doubling Atalanta's lead. 

The Egyptian also had a goal disallowed for offside, but the Reds were flat and lacked urgency in their play - and were punished for some dreadful defending. Salah clearly gave Liverpool something extra going forward. 

This led to many wondering why he didn't start. Fatigue was clearly the answer and has resulted in Liverpool fans being concerned about the strength of their squad. 

Scamacca took advantage of being left unmarked by doubling the lead with a crisp finish on the hour.

Pasalic's 83rd-minute shot came after Brazilian midfielder Ederson was given fat too much space to shoot and, when Kelleher made a save, the Croatian snapped up the rebound to score.

The away fans were dancing and singing the night away. The home fans were stunned. Where next for Klopp on his farewell tour?

You can watch what happened in the video below. The footage is from the TNT sports YouTube account 

 The best reaction from across Europe

William, a Liverpool fan from Bradford, was at Anfield for this match. He said: "This result and performance has been coming. Some of the players are starting to look tired. It's difficult competing in four different competitions. Manchester United struggled last season and they have a similar squad to us. Not everyone has the luxury (in terms of squad size) that Manchester City has."

Amy from Liverpool added: "This might cause some controversy but this isn't the worst result for us. It was always going to be difficult to compete in the Europa League and Premier League. I would much rather win the Premier League."

We did manage to speak with one away fan after the match. He added a simple message: "That was sensational from us."

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