Jurgen Klopp has not completely ruled out the possibility of a Liverpool comeback in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final encounter with Atalanta, but he’s under no illusions as to how much of an improvement will be needed if it’s to happen.
The Reds’ European hopes were dashed after they were deservedly beaten 0-3 at home by Gian Piero Gasperini’s side on Thursday night, having produced their worst performance of the season in front of a subdued Anfield.
The German was left with the unenviable task of facing the media after that horrendous result, and he did his best to summon some level of defiance while also recognising how tall an order we face to try and turn the tie around.
Klopp told TNT Sports afterwards: “Can we win in Bergamo? Yes – if we play good, it’s possible. Can we win 3-0? I have no idea.”
He added: “In this moment [Atalanta] are practically through, but another game comes and they realise they are not through yet. They have to play another game and we get another chance, but playing like tonight we don’t have to think about a chance.”
Even by Liverpool’s standards, it’ll take an extraordinary Lazarus act to retrieve such a large deficit in the away leg against an Atalanta side who were very good value for their 3-0 win – this was by no means a smash-and-grab from the Serie A outfit.
Some Reds fans will point to our 5-0 triumph when we last played in the Gewiss Stadium in November 2020 as reason not to give up hope, but there was nothing from Thursday night to suggest that such a result is in any way plausible.
Hopefully we can net an early goal in Bergamo next week and potentially put a few chills up Italian spines, but it’ll require a seismic improvement on the calamitous first leg display to even threaten a comeback.
