Liverpool could not come back against Atalanta and had to stop in the Europa League, in which Salah was not at fault for the unbelievable miss.
Two faces of Salah
There was no miracle like Jurgen Klopp expected when Liverpool stepped in Europa League quarter-final second leg on Atalanta’s field.
Klopp called on his students to fight in the familiar Liverpool style. That was shown with a goal in the 7th minute for the English football representative.
Liverpool soon took the lead from the 11 meter mark
Alexander-Arnold’s cross hit the Atalanta player’s hand in the penalty area and Mohamed Salah successfully scored the penalty afterward.
The early goal helped Liverpool lift their spirits. Meanwhile, Atalanta was somewhat confused and the Italian team’s mentality was more or less shaken by the 0-5 loss since 2000.
The biggest turning point in the second leg came after more than half an hour. Salah was put in a situation facing goalkeeper Musso, but his shot went out unbelievably.
The score of 2-0 will certainly bring greater hope to Liverpool for the remainder of the match. However, Salah’s squandering of the opportunity ruined everything.
In recent matches, most recently the loss to Crystal Palace, Liverpool always had problems in finishing. The same thing happened at Azzurri d’Italia.
After escaping the second goal, Atalanta woke up and organized the match better. Gasperini’s team, controlling the ball only 36%, blocked the paths towards Musso’s goal.
Klopp, who attended 4 European Cup finals, with the 2018-19 Champions League title, had to say goodbye to the continental playground in a disappointing way.
Focus all your efforts on the Premier League
“It’s part of football”Jurgen Klopp defended Salah about the missed situation, causing the Egyptian player to receive a lot of criticism.
That ball shows the problem that Salah is going through. After the injury, he still has not regained his familiar feeling and sharpness.
In the last 5 matches in all competitions, Salah scored 2 goals. Those were all 11m free kicks.
Salah is no longer effective and his movements are also difficult. In loss to Crystal Palacealthough Liverpool dominated the ball, the 31-year-old player only had 2 shots.
“The biggest problem in the second half was that we couldn’t keep the tempo”, Klopp explained. He does not think that Salah is the reason why Liverpool stopped before Atalanta.
Liverpool chia tay Europa League
After winning the League Cup, Liverpool’s quadruple ambitions were soon shattered. First was the FA Cup defeat to MU, and now comes the Europa League farewell.
All that is left for Liverpool before saying goodbye to Klopp is the Premier League, where the Anfield team is at a disadvantage compared to Arsenal and defending champion Man City.
To compete at the top of the table, Klopp must change the mentality of Liverpool’s attack in the remaining 6 matches, starting with an unpleasant away trip to Fulham this weekend.
Fulham won 4 points after 2 matches with Arsenal. The London team also only lost 3-4 to Liverpool. Big challenges await Klopp in his final months at Anfield.
