Jurgen Klopp was left to reflect on “a low point” for Liverpool after Atalanta inflicted one of the heaviest defeats of his reign in Thursday’s Europa League clash.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how the Serie A side’s 3-0 romp compares to Klopp’s worst games with the club.

Low point

Gianluca Scamacca’s double and Mario Pasalic’s late strike gave Atalanta a 3-0 win in the first leg of their quarter-final, denting Klopp’s bid to add an eighth different trophy to his Anfield honours roll and end his reign with a showpiece final in Dublin.

Only Manchester City and Aston Villa have ever enjoyed bigger winning margins against Klopp’s Liverpool, across his 483 games since taking charge in October 2015.

City beat their perennial title rivals 5-0 on the way to the 2017-18 crown, Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane scoring twice apiece, and then 4-0 in a futile attempt to stop Klopp’s men romping to their Covid-delayed 2019-20 win.

Villa beat a much-changed Liverpool side 5-0 in the Carabao Cup in December 2019 – a defence of Ki-Jana Hoever, Tony Gallacher, Sepp van den Berg and Morgan Boyes powerless to prevent Jonathan Kodjia scoring his only two goals of that season.

More memorably, Ollie Watkins’ hat-trick and a Jack Grealish brace set up a 7-2 league triumph against Klopp’s defending champions in October 2020.

Anfield nightmare

The common thread between those four hammerings is that they all took place away from Anfield, meaning Gian Piero Gasperini’s side inflicted a record-equalling home defeat on Klopp with Liverpool.

It is the 11th time his side have lost by three goals – a sixth 3-0, to go with four 4-1s and a 5-2 – but only the third at home.

City triumphed 4-1 in 2021, Ilkay Gundogan scoring twice, while last season’s Champions League challenge was effectively ended by that 5-2 defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie against Real Madrid. Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool an early 2-0 lead but Vinicius Jr and Karim Benzema scored twice apiece in Real’s emphatic comeback.

City are also among the teams to inflict three-goal away defeats on Klopp’s side, a list that curiously includes Watford on two separate occasions along with Tottenham, Brighton and Wolves in the Premier League and Barcelona and Napoli in the Champions League.

Liverpool’s heaviest ever home defeat is only 6-0, against Sunderland in the First Division in April 1930.

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Liverpool
Virgil van Dijk sends warning to Liverpool teammates after Atalanta shock
Liverpool thrashed 3-0 by Atalanta to leave Europa League hopes dangling by a thread
Brace from Gianluca Scamacca and late goal from Mario Pasalic secured quarter-final first-leg victory for Italian side
Reds captain Virgil van Dijk stressed need for his teammates to believe they can secure comeback next week

By Sean Walsh
10:10 AM GMT+1
Van Dijk's Liverpool were heavily beaten
Van Dijk's Liverpool were heavily beaten / Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/GettyImages
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk insisted there is 'no point' in his side showing up for the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final with Atalanta if they don't think they can overturn a 3-0 deficit.

The Reds were stunned by the Serie A side on Thursday night, who will take a three-goal cushion back to Italy for the return fixture next week. Gianluca Scamacca scored either side of half-time before Mario Pasalic rounded off proceedings late in the day.

Van Dijk fronted up to the cameras post-match and hit out at his teammates for a string of individual errors, but urged them to remain positive if they are to conjure up another memorable European comeback.

"Obviously it's not great. A very, very disappointing evening. Too many individual mistakes and we got punished for it. It feels bad," Van Dijk told TNT Sports.

"With the man-marking system they do, we have to do much better. When we have the ball we have to do better and be much stronger. The spaces were open and they punished us immediately.

"A very disappointing night for all of us but we can't dwell on it for too long. We need everyone to look forward to another big game. We have to switch back onto getting results.

Alexis Mac Allister, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson
Liverpool have work to do next week / Richard Sellers/Allstar/GettyImages
"We were wide open. It's more that we conceded the goals because we lost the ball in difficult areas. It hurts. But it can't put us down. We have to react pretty quickly.

"It hurts of course. We haven't lost here for a long time. But we shouldn't take the credit away from them. They punished us for being sloppy in possession. We still had chances to score one or two and unfortunately we didn't.

"If you don't believe, there's no point going to Italy. We have made it very hard for ourselves going there 3-0 down. But the way to bounce back is by winning the game on the weekend. We need everyone to switch it back on. Then we can focus on putting out at least four goals over there."

Liverpool won 5-0 in their only previous visit to Atalanta, with Diogo Jota scoring a hat-trick in their Champions League group stage meeting in November 2020.

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Alexander Nubel signs new Bayern Munich deal and extends Stuttgart loan

Alexander Nubel has signed a new long-term contract with Bayern Munich and has agreed to stay on loan at Stuttgart for the next two years.

The 27-year-old goalkeeper joined Bayern from Schalke in 2020 and has spent this season on loan with Stuttgart, who are third in the Bundesliga and level on points with Nubel’s parent club.

Bayern said on their official website: “Alexander Nubel has extended his contract at FC Bayern by a further four years to 30 June 2029, with his original deal set to run until summer 2025.

“An agreement has also been reached with VfB Stuttgart that he will remain there on loan for another two seasons.”

Nubel made four senior appearances for Bayern before spending two seasons on loan in France with Monaco and this season established himself as first choice at Stuttgart.

“I’m very happy about this decision and the trust that FC Bayern has shown in me,” Nubel said. “At the same time, I feel very good in Stuttgart. I want to enjoy success with VfB and take my next steps personally.”

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Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe 'holds face-to-face talks' over £15m signing as Man Utd rebuild continues
Man Utd want to appoint Dan Ashworth as sporting director
Newcastle demanding £15m compensation or 18-month period of gardening leave
Sir Jim Ratcliffe said to have staged personal intervention with Magpies co-owner Amanda Staveley

By Sean Walsh
10:30 AM GMT+1
Ratcliffe has stepped in to smooth over negotiations
Ratcliffe has stepped in to smooth over negotiations / Robin Jones/GettyImages
Manchester United shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe has met with Newcastle co-owner Amanda Staveley in order to try and finalise the acquisition of sporting director Dan Ashworth, according to a report.

Ratcliffe completed the acquisition of a 28% stake in United earlier this year and is now in charge of footballing operations at the club. He has been quick to oversee an internal restructure, with Omar Berrada set to join from rivals Manchester City as CEO this summer, while football director John Murtough's departure from Old Trafford was confirmed earlier this week.

90min revealed shortly after Murtough's exit that United plan to split his responsibilities between two prospective new hires - Southampton's Jason Wilcox as technical director and Newcastle's Ashworth as sporting director.

While there is a hope and expectation Wilcox could join United in time for the summer transfer window as the compensation package needed to be agreed with Southampton is relatively minimal, Ashworth's arrival is being complicated by Newcastle's demands - the Magpies want £15m to part ways with him or he will otherwise have to serve a lengthy 18-month spell on gardening leave.

The Times report Ratcliffe has met with Staveley in order to resolve this ongoing impasse, and there is belief a breakthrough in talks is near due to this personal intervention and the public announcement of Murtough's exit.

Dan Ashworth
Ashworth is keen on joining Man Utd / Dan Mullan/GettyImages
Ratcliffe has been vocal in his desire to bring Ashworth to United, previously stressing that it would be 'completely stupid' for Newcastle to play hardball over his exit.

"I think Dan Ashworth is clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world, I've no doubt," Ratcliffe said in February. "He's a very capable person. He's interested in the Manchester United job because it's probably the biggest sporting director job in the world just now, with the biggest challenge.

"We've obviously had words with Newcastle. They would clearly be disappointed to lose Dan. But what I do think is completely absurd is suggesting a man who is really good at his job sits in his garden for one-and-a-half years. That's completely stupid."

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