Liverpool suffered a blow in their attempt to win everything they can in Jurgen Klopp’s final season as Reds coach. Among those goals is the Europa League and the first meeting with Atalanta in the quarterfinals. This Thursday, the match also pitted Alexis Mac Allister, highly praised by the German coach in recent times, against goalkeeper Juan Musso, former Racing. But the surprise came from the Italian team, who celebrated at none other than Anfield.. “Agent 90” Gianluca Scamacca (the 1m95 center forward wears that shirt) was the great figure of Atalanta, with two goals and a great display.
The red team has already won the English Cup by beating Chelsea 1-0 in the final and is now fighting neck and neck with Arsenal and Manchester for the Premier League title, the three separated by one point and with seven games to play. Klopp’s calculations go further: if Liverpool reaches the Europa League final, it will be his last game in charge after almost nine years. But now he was forced to heroically in Italy.
Atalanta, the team they faced in the group stage of the 2020/21 Champions League, with both emerging victorious, gave them the blow in their own stadium thanks to the scores of Scamacca (2) and Mario Pasalic.
The best of the match
Gianluca Scamacca returned to Italy on August 7, 2023. He put on the Atalanta shirt, after a disappointing season at West Ham, in the Premier League. The 24-year-old forward had signed a four-year contract, until 2027, which he had paid 25 million euros (27.5 million dollars) to add it up.
Scamacca had arrived at West Ham in 2022 for 36 million euros ($39.6 million), from Sassuolo, but his only season in the Premier League was marked by injuries and adaptation problems, according to a cable from the AFP agency.
Wearing the Hammers shirt, Scamacca, who came through the youth ranks of PSV Eindhoven, scored eight goals in 27 games, in all competitions.
Mac Allister had a discreet game. The first time that the former Argentinos and Boca player stepped into the Atalanta area was before five minutes, when he hit a running shot that went over the crossbar from a cross behind Elliott. But the clearest for the English team in the first half was a shot by Elliott from the right with a left foot that hit first the crossbar and then the post, an ally for Musso.
But the surprise came Gianluca Scamacca 37 minutes into the first half, with a right foot that ended up in the net in complicity with goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, who provided weak resistance with his hands when the ball was directed to the near post after an overflow and cross behind by Davide Zappacosta.
And again the same formula for 2-0 at 16 minutes of the second stage. Through a direct attack, and again from the right, Zappacosta sent a great cross that was connected with the left foot this time by Scamacca, which left the goalkeeper without a chance. The 9th was enabled by Ibrahima Konaté, as detected by the VAR review.
Klopp had made three changes at halftime: Szoboszlai came on for Jones; Mo Salah for Elliott and Robertson for Tsimikas. Mo Salah reached injury time but converted it into an offside position.
At 37 minutes it was 3-0, the one that transformed the victory into a landslide was Mario Pasalic, after another counterattack and a new error by goalkeeper Kelleher, who gave another short rebound and which was taken advantage of by the Croatian midfielder. Kelleher, yes, had made a great save as soon as the game had started, it is worth admitting.
Juan Musso had an outstanding task, especially at the beginning of the second half, where he hit Sallah with a left foot that could have been the equalizer for the local team.
So far this season and despite missing almost the entire month of December due to a knee injury, Mac Allister is the fourth player who accumulates the most minutes of play according to the AFP agency (only surpassed by Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Luis Díaz) and his importance in Klopp’s scheme is also reflected not only in the offensive aspect (he is the player who gives the most passes and accumulates 7 assists and 6 goals ), but also defensively, with more than half of the duels won and being one of the midfielders with the most ball recoveries. Against Atalanta he did not have an outstanding match but that does not overshadow the campaign of the footballer who is considered a starter for Lionel Scaloni in the Argentine national team.