LONDON – Lacklustre Liverpool were stunned 3-0 by Atalanta in a Europa League quarter-final collapse. The loss damages Liverpool’s hopes of a treble of trophies in Klopp’s final season at Anfield.
Against the run of play, Scamacca put the visitors ahead 1-0 in the 38th minute with a low drive past goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Klopp sent on Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Andy Robertson as substitutes for the second half in an effort to turn things around but Scamacca netted again after Charles De Ketelaere fed him at the far post on the hour mark.
Mario Pasali´c finished the scoring seven minutes from time, AP reported.
Atalanta won at Anfield 2-0 in the group stage of the Champions League in 2020.
This competition offers the chance to bring the curtain down on the German’s reign with a European trophy on May 22, but their hopes of making the Dublin showpiece are in jeopardy.
Liverpool lacked creativity and coherence in the first leg of a quarter-final that Atalanta are in complete control of heading back to Bergamo thanks to Gianluca Scamacca’s brace and a late Mario Pasalic goal.
Liverpool won the English League Cup and is in a tight Premier League title race with Arsenal and Manchester City.
If Liverpool reaches the Europa League final, it would be Klopp´s final game in charge after nearly nine years.
Bayer Leverkusen got late goals from substitutes Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface to top West Ham 2-0 and extend its unbeaten streak to 42 games in a season that can also end up with a treble of trophies.
Hofmann netted on a rebound in the 83rd before Boniface clinched a well-deserved victory with a header in stoppage time.
With a 16-point lead atop the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso´s team is on course to clinch its first-ever league title, and has reached the German Cup final.
Roma beat AC Milan 1-0 at San Siro while Benfica defeated Marseille 2-1 in Lisbon.
The second-leg games will be played next week.
EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
Kostas Fortounis scored and provided an assist to help Olympiakos beat Fenerbahce 3-2 in the first leg of the Europa Conference League quarterfinals on Thursday.
Olympiakos built a 3-0 lead in Piraeus and held on after the Turkish team fought back with two second-half goals.
Fortounis opened the scoring after just eight minutes, netting his fifth goal of the European campaign. He then set up Stevan Joveti´c to double the lead before halftime.
Chiquinho made it 3-0 with a precise low drive approaching the hour mark before Dusan Tadi´c pulled one back from the penalty spot and Irfan Can Kahveci added the second for Fenerbahce.
Olympiakos is one of the two Greek teams in the last eight hoping to reach a home final in Athens.
The other, PAOK, was playing at Club Brugge later Thursday.
Viktoria Plzen held last year´s runner-up Fiorentina to a 0-0 draw in what was the first European quarterfinal for the Czech club, which hasn’t conceded a goal for seven straight games in the third-tier competition.
As Fiorentina looked in control in the second half, the match was interrupted for several minutes because of flares that its fans threw onto the pitch.
