Liverpool Lost the Plot in Atalanta Defeat, Says Klopp

 Soccer Football - Europa League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Liverpool v Atalanta - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 11, 2024 Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - Europa League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Liverpool v Atalanta - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 11, 2024 Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
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Liverpool Lost the Plot in Atalanta Defeat, Says Klopp

 Soccer Football - Europa League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Liverpool v Atalanta - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 11, 2024 Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - Europa League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Liverpool v Atalanta - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 11, 2024 Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)

Liverpool lacked tactical discipline against Atalanta on Thursday and fully deserved their 3-0 defeat in the Europa League quarter-final first leg match, manager Juergen Klopp said.

Gianluca Scamacca struck either side of halftime before Mario Pasalic capped an impressive win for the Italians at Anfield as Liverpool slumped to their joint-heaviest home defeat in European competition.

"It just was a really bad game, oh my God. We started well, really well, and then didn't continue. I think even before they scored, we just lost the plot a little bit, we were everywhere and nowhere," Klopp told reporters.

"(The) midfield was spread like that, right midfielder left side, left midfielder, striker. I didn't recognize that, that was really strange. In football terms that's tactical discipline.

"We played a bad game, we deserved to lose and we must feel that now."

Liverpool will seek to overturn the deficit in the second leg in Italy next week, but before that they host Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday.

With the Merseyside club involved in a tight title race with Arsenal and Manchester City, Klopp said the players had to move on from Thursday's defeat quickly.

"The boys have exactly this night to feel bad about it and then we have to build up again for the Crystal Palace game, that's how it is," he added.

"This was a low point for us performance-wise tonight, I would say, for a long time."



Dortmund Holds on with 10 Men for 1st Away Win in Bundesliga

Borussia Dortmund's players celebrate with the fans after the German first division Bundesliga football match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 22, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
Borussia Dortmund's players celebrate with the fans after the German first division Bundesliga football match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 22, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
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Dortmund Holds on with 10 Men for 1st Away Win in Bundesliga

Borussia Dortmund's players celebrate with the fans after the German first division Bundesliga football match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 22, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
Borussia Dortmund's players celebrate with the fans after the German first division Bundesliga football match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 22, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)

Borussia Dortmund held on after Pascal Groß’ sending off to beat Wolfsburg 3-1 for its first Bundesliga away win of the season on Sunday.

Donyell Malen got the visitors off the mark with a volley to a corner in the 25th, three minutes before Julian Brandt played in Maximilian Beier to score Dortmund’s second goal. Beier, who scored with the outside of his boot in off the left post, celebrated with a throwing-dart gesture, The Associated Press reported.

Beier returned the favor for Brandt to score Dortmund’s third two minutes after that.
Wolfsburg improved drastically after the break, when coach Ralph Hasenhüttl made two changes, including sending on Lukas Nmecha to face his brother Felix Nmecha, who was playing for Dortmund.
Denis Vavro pulled one back in the 58th, four minutes before Groß was sent off for a foul on Lukas Nmecha when the Wolfsburg forward was through on goal.
The home team pushed hard but Dortmund managed to hold on to ease the pressure on coach Nuri Sahin.
Dortmund climbed to sixth ahead of the league’s winter break.
Earlier, bottom club Bochum defeated relegation rival Heidenheim 2-0 for its first win of the season in the league. It was the visitors’ seventh straight Bundesliga defeat, the culmination of a busy schedule after clinching European qualification from its league debut last season and the offseason loss of star players like Jan-Niklas Beste, Tim Kleindienst and Eren Dinkci.