Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has told his players to go home and sleep badly following a terrible performance in their defeat to Atalanta.
The Italians ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at Anfield, leaving Liverpool’s hopes of winning the Europa League hanging by a thread.
Former West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca scored a brace and Mario Pasalic struck late on to condemn Liverpool to their first home defeat since February 2023.
Klopp explains why Liverpool players must suffer
The German wants his players to use the defeat as motivation for the visit of Crystal Palace as focus shifts back to the Premier League title race.
“I will watch this game on Monday, we play Crystal Palace on Sunday but I know if we do a couple of things better, we will be better, easy”, Klopp told TNT Sports.
“Can we win in Bergamo? Yes if we play good. Can we win 3-0? I have no idea. But that’s not important at the moment. We now have to recover and we must feel really, really bad. That’s important.
“In this moment it must be really bad. The boys must go home and sleep bad. That’s how it is. But when we meet tomorrow we have to prepare for Crystal Palace.
“I know the boys can play better football but they didn’t do it tonight. They have to show a reaction on Sunday. I’m pretty sure they will do that.”
It was a difficult watch not only for Klopp but also the Liverpool fans as Atalanta worked harder than the Reds off the ball and took advantage of defensive errors.
Liverpool face a very difficult task in the return leg and will have to believe they can turn the tie around, but if they concede then it’s likely to be all over.