5 Reasons Liverpool Can Comeback Against Atalanta

A three-goal deficit from the first-leg has been overturned just once in Europa League history. During the 2013/14 season Valencia lost 3-0 in Switzerland to FC Basel, but in the second leg of that tie, at the Estadio Mestalla, the Spanish side fought back to win 3-0 over 90 minutes and then progress with a 5-0 victory after extra-time. Are Liverpool about to replicate this feat in Bergamo on Thursday night? Here are five reasons why that actually wouldn’t be an enormous surprise.

Previous Meetings:

The most recent game between these two sides of course came at Anfield a week ago when Atalanta smacked Liverpool 3-0 in what was perhaps the Reds worst performance of the season. Yet, as Jürgen Klopp mentioned after the game; Harvey Elliott had rattled the woodwork with the scoreline at 0-0 and Darwin Nuñez missed a glorious opportunity. Liverpool started well, had 70% of the ball and almost double the amount of shots as their visitors on the night. Credit to Atalanta and their historic away victory, but in this game of inches things might have gone very differently.

Beyond that, the last time Liverpool visited Bergamo was for a Champions League clash during the 2020/21 season and the Anfield men won 5-0. There were no fans in the stadium that day due to Covid-19 restrictions. Nonetheless, it is a result that will have stuck in the memory of players from both sides that will also be in action this Thursday. Atalanta play a fearless brand of football, but it can be as risky as it is rewarding.

Liverpool Quality:

After last weeks encounter Klopp remarked that the home side deserved to lose, and rightly so. However his opposite number Gian Piero Gasperini urged that this tie is far from over. The six-time Champions of Europe weren’t huge favourites for no reason and they have been keeping up with treble winning Manchester City this year. If they play to their potential they are quite simply a superior team to Atalanta.

Form is temporary, class is permanent etc etc. The point is that this Liverpool side boasts the likes of Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister, Virgil Van Dijk and many more superstars. The likes of Alisson Becker, Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold have all recently returned to fitness too. Atalanta gave a poor Liverpool side a lot of chances in the first leg so imagine what the Reds might do if they actually play better and bring their shooting boots to northern Italy.

Atalanta Form:

Despite their emphatic win over Liverpool, Atalanta are actually in dreadful form. They have just three wins from their last 12 games in all competitions. Interestingly, Atalanta raced into a 2-0 lead against Hellas Verona in the league this weekend, but the away side struck back with two goals in just four second-half minutes to claim a 2-2 draw. Needless to say, conceding a quick comeback is not what Atalanta would have wanted to practice at the weekend.

Before that they lost back-to-back games in the league against Fiorentina and Cagliari, so despite big Europa League wins against Sporting Lisbon and Liverpool, the Bergamo boys have been having plenty of issues lately. You feel like an early goal for the Reds could absolutely rattle the Italian side.

European Heritage:

I need not go into too much detail about Liverpool trailing Italian sides 3-0 at half-time in Europe. The reds will draw faith from their European heritage and hope the weight of the Liverpool badge will carry into the four walls of the Atalanta dressing room. Since Istanbul, Jurgen Klopps Liverpool have completed historical comebacks against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League and of course Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final, even if both of those remarkable evenings took place on Merseyside.

Atalanta fans feel this might be the biggest game in their clubs history. Not only can they take down a European giant in Liverpool, but they could reach a first ever European semi-final. The quarter-final stage is usually where the fairytale ends for the Italians though. A few years ago they were knocked out at that stage of the Champions League by PSG, and in the UEFA Cup/Europa League they lost quarter-finals to Internazionale in 1991 and RB Leipzig in 2022.

Wednesday nights Champions League results showed that football folklore remains an intangible but very real part of proceedings at this stage of European competition. Manchester City and Arsenal went into their respective ties against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as favourites, but both managed to lose. City dominated a resilient Madrid over the two legs but the football gods favoured ‘Los Blancos’ once again, and even though Bayern are having one their worst campaign in recent history, Arsenal, who have been incredible in 2024, couldn’t overcome the mystic Munich side.

Atalanta players and supporters alike will be very wary of what all of this means and exactly who it is they are hosting. Which leads to my last point.

Pressure:

The psychology surrounding this tie is fascinating. Atalanta went to Anfield as underdogs but have returned as favourites to progress, with this comes a new type of pressure for the players to manage. As ridiculous as it sounds, 3-0 is a dangerous scoreline for the Italians. Might they question a change in playing style and perhaps shock everyone by being more conservative and trying to guard their lead? Or will they take the game to the Reds and keep the momentum going, press aggressively and try and rally the home crowd?

It’s a lead that allows the hosts to overthink the second-leg tactics. It’s a lead that brings a lot of expectation on Atalanta and it’s a lead that means they now have a lot to lose. Liverpool, on the other hand, have absolutely nothing to lose as they are already 3-0 down and away from home in a European quarter-final. Not even the loyal travelling support come expecting a win against the sixth best team in Italy at the moment. It’s a free hit, and a team of such quality playing without the weight of expectation could be a dangerous beast.

The above, of course, is not to suggest that the hosts will definitely crumble, and what they did at Anfield last week was pretty remarkable. However much stranger things have happened, especially when Liverpool are involved, and this is a really unique situation that most of the Atalanta team will not have encountered before.

However it also goes without saying that Liverpool need to play as we know they can. A repeat of last Thursday, or Sunday’s effort against Palace, will definitely not be enough to challenge this Atalanta side.

It will be a season-defining night either way. If the Reds do pull off the comeback, that wave of momentum that now seems lost will come hurtling back to propel them through the business end of the season. Which is vital when you consider they have three away games over seven days in the league next up.

For Atalanta, not even victory, but simply progression, would spark huge celebrations in the city of Bergamo and send La Dea the furthest they’ve ever been in continental football. Let’s hope this game can match the drama of Tuesday and Wednesday night, but whatever the result, it will be historic for one of these teams.