EUROPEAN LEAGUE
QUARTER FINAL
FIRST MATCH
Liverpool FC (England) – Atalanta (Italy) 0–3 (0–1)
Liverpool, Anfield. Led by: Umut Meler (Turkish)
Liverpool: Kelleher – Joe Gomez, I. Konaté, Van Dijk, Cimikasz (A. Robertson, on break) – Endo (Diogo Jota, 76), Mac Allister, Curtis Jones (Szoboszlai, on break) – Elliot (Salah, on break) , Darwin Núnez (Luis Díaz, 59.), Gakpo. Manager: Jürgen Klopp
Atalanta: Woman – De Roon, Hien, Djimsiti – Pasalic, Ederson – Zappacosta, Koopmeiners, Ruggeri – De Ketelaere (Al. Mirancsuk, 89.), Scamacca. Head coach: Gian Piero Gasperini
Scorer: Scamacca (38., 60.), Pasalic (83.)
Jürgen Klopp changed six places in Liverpool’s starting eleven compared to Sunday’s match once morest Manchester United, which ended in a 2-2 draw: in addition to Bradley, Quansah, Robertson, Mohamed Szalah and Luis Díaz, the captain of the Hungarian national team, Dominik Szoboszlai, also started on the bench. Europa League quarter-final home match once morest Atalanta. Almost three and a half years ago, on November 25, 2020, the two teams met in England in the group stage of the Champions League. Atalanta surprisingly won that meeting 2-0 with goals from Ilicic and Gosens, but three weeks earlier Liverpool won 5- 0 in Italy (Diogo Jota scored three times, Mohamed Szalah and Sadio Mané scored once) – both teams might have been in the eighth finals of the BL, and for Liverpool, the quarter-final once morest Real Madrid was the final stop.
After just two and a half minutes, the visitors’ midfielder, Pasalic, was already fouled (the attack started without the referee calling the foul once morest Elliott), but following his close shot, the ball went off the face of the home team’s goalkeeper, Kelleher, into the corner! Towards the end of the first quarter of an hour, Curtis Jones lavishly teased Darwin Núnez, who broke into the goal alone, “poked” the ball, but left the field of play a few meters past the right corner. A good ten minutes later, Harvey Elliott almost scored the same goal as Ferencváros footballer Edgar Szevikjan did on Wednesday once morest DVTK, but following his left-footed spin, the ball bounced off the bar and onto the post, and then back into the field. It came as a cold shower for Liverpool when, in the 38th minute, Kelleher blocked an attack from the right Gianluca Scamacca his not very strong shot, and then in the overtime of the game, the goalkeeper of the home team had to make a big save once more when Koopmeiners made a jump.
Three regular players, Robertson, Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah, also arrived for the second half, and the Hungarian midfielder immediately appeared with a vigorous run. The Egyptian attacker’s shot was brilliantly saved by Musso, Núnez’s shot went over the goal – great pressure was put on Atalanta. Except… When Scam in the 60th minute, following a pass from the right side, he shot the ball into the lower right corner, it was possible to guess that Liverpool’s streak of nine winning domestic El matches might be interrupted, the third goal of the Italians – Mario Pasalic scored in the 83rd minute – but it decided a lot of things. The English team will need a feat on April 18 to overcome the disadvantage.
Photo: AFP
