The big comeback didn’t happen: Jürgen Klopp has to say goodbye to Liverpool FC without one last European Cup. The German team manager’s team won their second leg in the quarter-finals of the Europa League at Atalanta Bergamo 1-0 (1-0) on Thursday, but were unable to make up for the painful 3-0 home defeat from the first duel due to a generally too harmless performance .
Star striker Mohamed Salah (7th) scored for Liverpool with a hand penalty, but it wasn’t enough for more. For Klopp, who is leaving the team in the summer after nine years and won the Champions League in 2019, after winning the League Cup in February he only has the chance of his second Premier League title after 2020. Liverpool have 71 points in the league two points behind league leaders Manchester City.
Liverpool put a lot of pressure on at the beginning and quickly became dangerous. A cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold found Bergamo’s Matteo Ruggeri’s hand, and Salah safely converted the following penalty. Shortly before half-time, the Egyptian (40th) should have scored the second goal, but he lifted the ball clearly past one-on-one with Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso. After the break, Klopp’s team remained far too passive to create the miracle.
In the all-Italian duel, AS Roma secured the semi-final ticket – and thus challenged Bayer Leverkusen, who prevailed against West Ham United. After a 1-0 win in the first leg, coach Daniele De Rossi’s team won 2-1 (2-0) against AC Milan after being long outnumbered. Gianluca Mancini (12th) and Paulo Dybala (22nd) made the capital celebrate, Matteo Gabbia (85th) shortened the score for Milan. Rome’s Zeki Celik (31st) was shown a red card after a serious foul in the first half.
Two yellow cards do not result in a dismissal
Meanwhile, Argentina’s World Cup hero Emiliano Martinez led Aston Villa to the semi-finals of the Conference League. The world champion goalkeeper saved Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin Andre’s penalties in the 4-3 penalty shootout at French first division club OSC Lille and thus played a major role in the English team’s success.
Aston Villa’s Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is the man of the eveningAP
Curious: Martinez saw his second yellow card of the evening in the penalty shootout. However, according to the rules, the warning from the current game was not taken into the penalty shootout.
In addition to Aston Villa, Fiorentina reached the next round. After a 0-0 draw in the first leg, the Italian club won its quarter-final second leg against Viktoria Plzen 2-0 (0-0) after extra time. Nicolas Gonzalez (92nd) and Cristiano Biraghi (108th) made the decision.
Aston Villa, who had won the first leg 2-1, were 2-0 down in the second match in France until shortly before the end and were therefore on the verge of elimination. Only a goal from Matty Cash (87th) brought the English back into the game – then Martinez came up trumps.
