Featured Image Credit: TNT Sports
Topics: Liverpool, Atalanta, Europa League, Virgil Van Dijk, Football, Dominik Szoboszlai
Alex Brotherton
Topics: Liverpool, Atalanta, Europa League, Virgil Van Dijk, Football, Dominik Szoboszlai
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk appeared to take a dig at his team-mate after his side fell to a shock defeat to Atalanta.
Liverpool's hopes of ending the Jurgen Klopp era by winning European silverware took a major blow as they lost 3-0 to Atalanta in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie.
Klopp's side had not tasted defeat at Anfield since February last year, but they were dismantled by the Serie A side in alarming fashion.
Gianluca Scamacca put the visitors ahead shortly before half-time with an effort that squeezed under Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
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The former West Ham striker bagged his second on the hour mark, capitalising on some slack Liverpool defending that left his completely unmarked inside the penalty area.
Liverpool threatened to pull a goal back, but things went from bad to worse when Mario Pasalic scored a third after Dominik Szoboszlai was robbed of possession inside his own half.
Speaking after the match, Liverpool skipper Van Dijk appeared to take a dig at team-mates Kelleher and Szoboszlai for the errors they made.
"Obviously it's half-time [in the tie], we're 3-0 down, it's not great," Van Dijk told TNT Sports.
"A very disappointing evening of course. I think [we made] too many individual mistakes and we got punished for it. This feels bad."
When asked why Liverpool found it so difficult to play with any rhythm, Van Dijk conceded that his and his team-mates' performances were well below the mark.
"We conceded the goals because we lost the balls in difficult moments, that's why we were wide open," he said.
"It's a collective thing in the end, we have to do much better. We all know it.
"Credit to them [Atalanta], they punished us for being sloppy, especially in possession.
"Obviously we still had chances to do it, to score at least one or two, but unfortunately we didn't."
Liverpool will take on Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday, before they look to overturn the three goal deficit in Italy on Thursday.