I believe that our loss was caused by a spiritual force and strength, not by rigging, and this is a shocking revelation. Our lack of speed was brought up by a few other players who felt like we were holding them down. After Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Atalanta, Van Dijk discusses what went wrong.
After Sunday’s disappointing stalemate with Manchester United, Liverpool’s reassurances from Jurgen Klopp may now seem hollow as they face the hard truth. Although their Premier League chances were not completely dashed at Old Trafford, Thursday night’s 3-0 Europa League loss to Atalanta threw doubt on their form just when it mattered most.
It was clear early on in the quarterfinal match that Liverpool were off their game. Atalanta came out on top and should have had a larger lead at halftime despite Darwin Nunez wasting a great chance and Harvey Elliot’s magnificent attempt rattled the woodwork.
In the fortunate first goal, Caoimhin Kelleher was at fault as Gianluca Scamacca’s shot went in behind him. But the Italians showed more poise and control, and they duly doubled their lead in the 60th minute when the foot of an Italian met De Ketelaere’s beautiful cross.
Mario Pasalic scored the game-winning third goal in stoppage time, and Liverpool never recovered, despite Klopp substituting players like Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah.
“If you don’t have belief, there’s no point in going to Italy,” said Liverpool’s captain in an interview with the press after the match. We must not worry about it. Our next match is in three days. We need to turn it back on tomorrow in order to start receiving results.
That was a rather lethargic evening. We got in trouble because too many people messed up.
“Obviously, this evening is not good and very disappointing,” Van Dijk said. We were penalized due to an excessive number of individual errors.
