LONDON – If Liverpool fans do not know it by now, Jurgen Klopp is taking the Europa League very seriously, as his side prepare to host Atalanta in their quarter-final, first-leg clash on April 11.
The Reds, along with 41-match unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen, are favourites to win European football’s second-tier club competition and they showed they meant business by putting 11 goals past Sparta Prague in the last 16.
Klopp’s men beat the Czech side 5-1 away, before clinching a 6-1 victory at Anfield – four of their goals were scored in the first 14 minutes, with no other side taking an earlier 4-0 lead in the Europa League.
Liverpool are again raring to go, as their manager Klopp pointed out on April 10.
“For the majority of last season, it didn’t look like we’d be involved in European football at all,” he said.
“And from the moment that we saw the chance to get into the Europa League, we were desperate. And with us being Liverpool, we want to win the competition. We have to be at our best to get into the next round. We’re not thinking about the final.”
It will be an upset if Liverpool fail to beat Atalanta at home, but they have lost to and drawn against rivals Manchester United since that Sparta win in March, along with victories over Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield United.
The 4-3 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Old Trafford in March meant that the Reds saw their chance of a quadruple dashed, while their 2-2 draw on April 7 left them behind English top-flight leaders Arsenal on goal difference.
For now, though, the focus will only be on the Europa League, and Klopp will be buoyed by the fact his side have scored at least twice in each of their last five matches in all competitions. The Liverpool boss will, however, still be without the injured Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota, Joel Matip, Ben Doak, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic, although the first three are close to returns.
Atalanta will be concerned after having won only two of their last nine games in all competitions. But they do have experience of playing at Anfield, their most recent fixture being a 2-0 win in the 2020-21 Champions League group stage.
