Atalanta challenge different to Barcelona comeback, says Liverpool boss Klopp

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp knows all about heroic comebacks in European competition but even their stunning fightback against Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League will not prepare them for Thursday’s task in Atalanta.

Klopp’s side suffered a resounding 3-0 home loss in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final and travel to Italy with a mountain to climb.

While they also trailed Barcelona by a 3-0 scoreline in the Champions League semi-final five years ago, their 4-0 victory in the return fixture came with the noisy backing of a vociferous home crowd, while Thursday’s atmosphere will be very different.

“The result is similar definitely. The performance not really,” the German coach told reporters on Wednesday.

“We lost 3-0 in Barcelona and people didn’t know how, now we lost 3-0 at home and are away, it’s a massive difference. We are here and will try to win the game, that’s all. That’s what we should do.

“(Last week) we had really good moments but they completely deserved to win. Let’s start with a much better performance and try to win the game and we will see how much time is left at the end.”