Jurgen Klopp has said he hopes to ignite the desire within his team to pull off a miraculous win against Atalanta, just like he did against Barcelona in 2019.
Liverpool’s dramatic win over Barca was truly remarkable, trailing by three goals heading into the second leg, before finishing 4-0 in the reverse fixture to earn a spot in the Champions League final.
If Liverpool are to secure victory over Atalanta on Thursday night, their achievement will bare many similarities.
Atalanta were solid in their win over the Reds at Anfield in the first leg of the quarter-final clash, scoring three unanswered goals through Gianluca Scamacca and Mario Pasalic.
Reds boss Klopp is hoping to repeat history, in what will be his last campaign in Europe for Liverpool.,
In an interview with The Times, Klopp said: “I remember I said, ‘If we fail, then let’s fail in the most beautiful way,’ and that’s exactly how I see it again. I usually don’t prepare these things like that, especially not the day before or four years before whatever.
“After the game [last week against Atalanta] everyone in the stadium thought, ‘That’s it.’ Now it’s a week later I don’t think everyone thinks it is already decided. We want to win the game. If we want to win, we better play good. If we play good, we have a chance to win it. Then we will see.
“We will see who deals better with the situation. If Atalanta go through then they will deserve it. If not, then something special will have happened. Tomorrow is more difficult because they don’t have to score at all. We have to do better. It’s not simple because usually you fight for everything but when you are 3-0 up it is not easy for them.”
Liverpool have never overturned a three-goal deficit away from home in Europe, but will hope to reach this accolade for the first time when they travel to Italy on Thursday.
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