Soccer

Liverpool and West Ham knocked out of the Europa League

Mohamed Salah’s early penalty raised hopes but Reds fell flat against Atalanta

Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp acknowledges Mohamed Salah. Photograph: Isabella Bonotto/AFP via Getty
Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp acknowledges Mohamed Salah. Photograph: Isabella Bonotto/AFP via Getty
Thu Apr 18 2024 - 22:16

Europa League: Atalanta 0 Liverpool 1 (Atalanta win 3-1 on aggregate)

Liverpool could not conjure up another remarkable comeback when they needed it most as their 1-0 victory over Atalanta in Bergamo failed to salvage their Europa League hopes.

Mohamed Salah’s early penalty raised hopes all the prematch reminiscence of the famous 4-0 against Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League semi-final would be replayed but their continued struggles in front of goal saw them exit 3-1 on aggregate.

Jurgen Klopp’s first season ended with defeat in the final of this competition and his last also culminated in more disappointment – the only major trophy he has not won in his nine years at Anfield.

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His greater frustration will be the manner in which his side threw things away a week ago to make the prospect of bouncing back, without the power of Anfield as they had five years ago, a more remote possibility.

Klopp had urged his players, as he had against Barcelona, to “fail in the most beautiful way” and while some of their play in the opening 45 minutes – driven by a resurgent Trent Alexander-Arnold – was scintillating it brought only one goal.

Now Liverpool have just six games in the Premier League, trailing Manchester City by two points, in which to ensure their beloved manager does not leave with only the Carabao Cup from a season which teased a quadruple only a month ago.

On the positive side having Alexander-Arnold will help on that front and it is unlikely Atalanta had experienced anything like what he produced particularly in the first half.

Perhaps not surprisingly for a team entering the last-chance saloon, Liverpool set off at a rapid pace but it was not so much the intensity of their approach but the whirlwind they generated with the perpetual motion.

With Alexander-Arnold making his first start since mid-February after injury the team dynamic changed dramatically as the defender was given licence to roam and create.

However, it was from more orthodox right side from which he won the penalty with a cross which hit the arm of Matteo Ruggeri after Luis Diaz had raced down the left and cut inside.

After the inevitable VAR check Salah stepped up to send goalkeeper Juan Musso the wrong way – and in a nice piece of symmetry in the same seventh minute in which Divock Origi sparked the comeback against Barca.

Unfortunately that is where the similarities ended as Musso was more alert to smother Diaz before he could get a shot off from Cody Gakpo’s one-move turn and pass.

The movement from the players was dizzying at times as the fluid switching of positions regularly saw Salah playing deeper and more central with Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson both popping up in the centre-forward role – when the former was not dictating play from deep or the latter was playing as a left-winger.

Salah has been well below his best since his own return from injury in February and he never looked comfortable when put clean through by Gakpo, playing a key part in the continuing the merry-go-round, and his lob over Musso never looked like troubling the goal.

The hosts had taken a good 25 minutes to get to grips with the maelstrom which threatened to engulf them but Aleksei Miranchuk scuffed wide their only shot of the half with an offside flag denying Teun Koopmeiners.

Atalanta centre back Isak Hien was perhaps fortunate to only be booked for deliberate handball to stop Diaz running through on to Salah’s pass shortly before half-time and the interval offered them some respite.

They actually had the better chances of the second half, Ederson and Koopmeiners both shooting straight at Alisson Becker.

With 25 minutes to go, Klopp gambled and introduced Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez but the fluency of the first half had already disappeared and the changes only compounded that.

West Ham 1 Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Leverkusen win 3-1 on aggregate)

West Ham bowed out of the Europa League but only after giving new German champions Bayer Leverkusen an almighty fright.

Michail Antonio’s early goal had the Hammers, 2-0 down from the first leg, dreaming of inflicting a first defeat of the season on Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen and of maybe reaching a third European semi-final in three years.

But they were unable to find a second and were then left crestfallen when a deflected goal from Jeremie Frimpong a minute from time made it 1-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate to end the Hammers’ hopes.

Few gave David Moyes’ side any chance of overturning the deficit against one of the best teams in Europe, even if they were a little jaded after celebrating their first Bundesliga crown on Sunday.

At the very least West Ham knew they needed a fast start, and both the team and the crowd were instantly unrecognisable from the meek 2-0 home defeat by Fulham four days earlier.

The first shot in anger did come from Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, whose 20-yard effort was acrobatically saved by Hammers keeper Lukasz Fabianksi despite it being his 39th birthday.

But the first goal was always going to have to come from West Ham if they were going to make anything resembling a contest out of it, and it arrived in the 14th minute when Jarrod Bowen swung a cross into the box.

Antonio got above Leverkusen centre-half Odilon Kossounou and in front of keeper Matej Kovar to guide his header into the net as a raucous home crowd genuinely started to believe something special could be in the air.

It was almost two four minutes later when Mohammed Kudus shook off the attentions of Kossounou and hit a deflected shot which Kovar did well to smother.

It was enough to rattle Alonso, who removed Kossounou from the firing line with less than half an hour gone, the Ivory Coast defender heading straight down the tunnel.

Tempers flared between the benches moments later with the Hammers’ mild-mannered first-team coach Billy McKinlay sent off along with Sebastian Parrilla from Leverkusen’s bench.

Still West Ham attacked and Edson Avarez’s shot looked goalbound until it hit Antonio’s backside, with Kovar holding Bowen’s follow-up.

Alonso made two further changes at the break, with big guns Victor Boniface and Frimpong called into action.

After the break Bowen, still a lively presence despite only passing a late fitness test, robbed Piero Hincapie in the area only to pull his shot across goal.

But Leverkusen were finding their rhythm. Frimpong should have wrapped up the tie with 10 minutes left when he raced through one-on-one with Fabianski, only to lift his shot way over the crossbar.

But with two minutes left Frimpong did strike, his shot taking a huge deflection off Aaron Cresswell to end West Ham’s European adventure.