After the 3-0 home defeat against Atalanta Bergamo, Liverpool FC needs a football miracle to avoid exit from the Europa League. Benfica beat Olympique Marseille 2-1 in the first leg. AS Roma are clearly on course for the semi-finals after their 1-0 win at AC Milan.
Atalanta Bergamo won 3-0 at Anfield Road on Thursday evening (April 11, 2024) and destroyed Liverpool FC’s hopes of a possible further title in team manager Jürgen Klopp’s farewell season in the first leg.
The Reds, who had already won the League Cup under Klopp, can probably concentrate completely on the close three-way battle in the English championship and the long-distance duel with Arsenal and Manchester City in the coming weeks – unless they fail in the second leg in a week in Italy a real football miracle.
Europa League, quarter-finals arrow right
After taking the lead (38th minute), Gianluca Scamacca scored the second goal for Atalanta after an hour. The possible goal eleven minutes before the end by Mohamed Salah, who only came into the game at half-time, was conceded again by VAR due to an offside position. Mario Pasalic (83′) made it 3-0 shortly afterwards – sealing Liverpool’s first home defeat in 33 games.
“It hurts, we had far too many individual mistakes and were punished severely,” Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told the Guardian. “Of course we have put ourselves in a very difficult situation. But we have to try to put things right. If we no longer believe in it, we don’t even need to go to Italy.”
Benfica wins against Marseille
Benfica Lisbon under coach Roger Schmidt was able to win 2-1 at home against Olympique Marseille. Rafa Silva (16th) and Argentine world champion Ángel di María (52nd) scored the goals for the hosts, while former BVB professional Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (67th) scored the visitors from Marseille’s goal.
There was a lot of excitement in Lisbon before the game after Benfica initially canceled the visiting fans’ tickets for security reasons, according to the club. French authorities had previously banned Benfica fans from attending the second leg. After protests, including from fan organizations, the OM fans were finally allowed into the stadium.
Roma on course for semi-finals after win at Milan
For AC Milan, however, it will be difficult to reach the semi-finals after a home defeat. Milan suffered a 0-1 defeat against AS Roma in the Serie A duel. Gianluca Mancini scored the only goal of the game for the Romans.
