Jurgen Klopp has admitted Liverpool deserved to lose after their Europa League thumping by Atalanta.
In a match where the Reds were heavy favourites, Klopp’s side were beaten 3-0 by the Italian side to leave them with a mountain to climb if they’re to reach the Europa League semi-finals.
Speaking of the result, Klopp said: “Nothing really positive to say about tonight.
“We played a bad game and deserved to lose and we must feel that now.
“But the boys have this night to feel bad about it and then we have to build up again for the Crystal Palace game.
“That’s how it is. You’ll ask me about the game next Thursday but we have Crystal Palace in between.
“Congratulations Atalanta, really well done.”
Klopp added: “I will watch this game on Monday, but I know that if we do a couple of things better, we will be better.
“Can we win [at Atalanta]? It’s possible. Can we win 3-0? I have no idea. But for now, it must feel really, really bad – that’s important.
“We have another chance, but playing like that, we don’t have a chance.”
On the prospect of Liverpool reaching the final in Dublin in what would be Klopp’s last game in charge, he said: “I believe it’s not the moment to talk about that.
“I’m not in the mood to think about the game in a week’s time when we have another in between.”
“Definitely we have to try, we want to win the game but now is not the moment to have a big mouth. We have to play a really good game.
“Where we are, this is probably a low point for us performance-wise so it should be possible to play a little bit better and we can play a lot better. But first and foremost it’s about Sunday now.”
One man who was not impressed by Liverpool’s performance was Jamie Carragher, but while disappointed, the Reds legend believes that there could be a silver lining to their defeat.
Taking to X, Carragher said: “Awful result and performance from Liverpool, the only consolation about getting beat so heavily is Jurgen should play a full second string in the second leg and go all in for the league!”
Liverpool are next in action against Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon as they look to reclaim their place at the top of the Premier League.
The final whistle brought huge celebrations for Atalanta and their travelling fans. Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini said he wanted to enjoy the moment, but warned the job is only half done.
“Tonight was amazing,” he said through a translator. “I didn’t make any changes until ten minutes to go and the only one change because it is hard to touch something about a team that held until the 90th minute in the best way.
“Such a victory, it’s OK to celebrate but we all know we ill have to conquer everything in seven days’ time in Bergamo because Liverpool is a really strong team and they can score goals quickly.
“We will have to play another very precise game in every aspect and repeat tonight’s game because everything remains to be played. But our advantage makes us hope for the best.”
News Summary:
- ‘Nothing positive to say’, says Jurgen Klopp, but Jamie Carragher finds ‘consolation’ for Liverpool
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.