7 months ago
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Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images
Atalanta manager Piero Gasperini wants his side to press the issue despite being up 3-0 from the first leg of their quarter-final with Liverpool.
Liverpool head into the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Atalanta knowing they will have to stage one of their greatest ever European comebacks to even have a chance of advancing following a shock 3-0 first leg defeat for Jürgen Klopp’s Reds at Anfield last week.
It’s a scoreline Liverpool have overturned before, but being on the road will make it far more difficult. And their opponents aren’t taking anything for granted despite their sizeable advantage, either, with Atalanta manager Piero Gasperini looking to fire his side up ahead of the game.
“This is one of the most important matches, maybe the most important even, in the history of Atalanta,” Gasperini said. “But in the match itself you then have to know how to isolate yourself from these sorts of thoughts. So we have to play as if we had not won 3-0 in the first leg.
“Losing is unacceptable, and in the Europa League this year we have not lost. We will go on the pitch as if we have to win qualification against a team to beat at any cost. We have great spirit, great enthusiasm, and last week we beat at home a team undefeated for a long time and first in the Premier League.”
Liverpool have stumbled over the past week-and-a-half. No longer first in the league, having ceded the advantage to Manchester City with six games left to play thanks to back-to-back sub-par results. And no longer favourites in the Europa League due to the 3-0 deficit against Atalanta.
All they can do in the former now is win out and hope others stumble in turn. And all they can do in the later is hope that Atalanta are willing to play an open, attacking game—which it seems as though they might in an effort to win again outright—and then play perfectly themselves.
