sport news Liverpool failed but gave fans hope that the Jurgen Klopp era can still have a ... trends now
If you are going to fail, then make sure you fail beautifully. That was the rallying cry of Jurgen Klopp before Liverpool attempted to write another chapter into the book of inspirational comeback triumphs in Europe.
In the end, this will have to go down as a failure. It was not quite beautiful, but it was a valiant performance that has healed some of the psychological wounds of the last fortnight and given fans hope that the Jurgen Klopp era can still have a magical ending.
Winning on the night, via an early Mohamed Salah penalty, stopped the rot after two losses and a draw in the weeks before threatened to derail their season. Liverpool ended this tie with their heads held high but the damage had already been done and they left with nothing.
Klopp will hope the Premier League finale does not follow that pattern. The German manager now has just six dates remaining on his farewell tour. The days of following Klopp’s Reds around Europe - a journey yielding four finals and a sixth European Cup crown for the club - are over.
Salah’s goal after just seven minutes set the senses tingling that another great comeback was well on the cards but Gian Piero Gasperini’s hard-working side soon settled and induced this tie to fizzle out. With apologies for an obvious pun, the stubborn display was a typical Italian Job.
The task in Atalanta proved too much for Liverpool after a disastrous first leg
Harvey Elliott sat on his haunches at full-time after Liverpool's slender win proved insufficient
The brilliant Italian side were able to dig in and deny Liverpool clear-cut chances
The Reds played well overall and at least offered hope for the end of the season
Mo Salah scored from the spot early on as Liverpool made the perfect possible start
Salah grabbed the ball quickly and rushed back to restart the game for the Reds
In this picturesque city stalked by shadows of the Italian Alps and Mont Blanc, it felt like Liverpool had a significant but not insurmountable mountain to climb. It was mission improbable but certainly not mission impossible.
If they were to summon the spirit of 2019 when they turned round a three-goal
