Liverpool have a mountain to climb in their Europa League quarter-final with Atalanta securing a shock 3-0 victory at Anfield.
Former West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca scored twice, the first coming from an error by Reds goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher as the Italian’s not particularly powerful effort twisted under his body.
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“That’s terrible, terrible goalkeeping from Kelleher,” Dean Ashton said in commentary for talkSPORT.
“He’s been good since he replaced Alisson but it’s a horrible, horrible mistake.”
That proved to be the only goal of the first half, but they had Kelleher falling further behind, the 25-year-old making two big saves to put the Italian side back.
In the opening moments of the match, Kelleher pushed Mario Pasalic away from close range, saving the shot from the face.
Kelleher denied Pasalic again just before halftime, stopping the powerful chest shot.
Liverpool were shaky at the back and were guilty of a lack of composure in front of goal in the first half, with Darwin Nunez shooting wide when playing cleanly at goal.
Meanwhile, Harvey Elliott hit the crossbar and post with a curling effort that had Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso beaten all over.
But no such problems for Scamacca, who added his second of the evening just after the hour mark with a neat left-footed half-volley after the Liverpool defense had been caught off guard.
Pasalic then scored the third late on to leave Liverpool with a mountain to climb ahead of the second leg in Bergamo next Thursday.
The 25-year-old is having a better time since returning to Italy following his season with West Ham.
Scamacca has 13 goals in 33 matches this season, including five out of seven in Europa League matches.
He helped the Hammers to Conference League glory but scored just eight goals in all competitions last season.
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The winner of this confrontation will face the winner of the quarter-final between Marseille and Benfica.
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