Mo Salah’s first-half miss proves crucial in Liverpool’s Europa League defeat to Atalanta as Peter Crouch insists ‘it’s not that difficult’ and proves the ‘Egyptian is not in good shape.

Mo Salah will roll over in his bed tonight to replay his crucial failure against Atalanta, believes Peter Crouch.

Liverpool’s star man wasted a golden opportunity in the first half of Liverpool’s Europa League second leg in Italy.

Salah found himself one-on-one with Juan Musso, who had come off his line, but he deflected the ball and the score remained 1-0.

He had already put them 1-0 up with a penalty, but if Liverpool had gone into the break with a 2-0 lead it would have set up a much more nervous second half. However, the Reds were unable to score again and lost 3-1 on aggregate, having lost 3-0 in the first leg last week.

“The biggest was Salah. For Salah with his left foot, bouncing like that, the goalkeeper went out into no man’s land. It’s an easy finish,” Crouch told TNT Sports.

Peter Crouch thinks Salah would have converted this chance if he had been in better shape

Crouch, who played for Liverpool, believes Salah’s wastefulness in front of goal affected his confidence in taking his chance.

“If he scores goals for fun, like he usually does, I think that comes into play. It’s not that difficult. It’s just detached from his shin. He’s completely wrong,” a- he declared.

“That’s the one that will come to mind tonight because it was in the first half, it could have been so different.”

Gary McAllister agreed, saying: “It fell beautifully for him on his left post. You would have put your mortgage on Mo Salah to make this opportunity a reality. It was a simple chance for someone of his talent and he will regret this failure.

Even when he’s having a bad game, Salah always has the ability to put it away and when he has chances like this, you always want him to score. It was a dismal failure for someone of his talent.

While Liverpool began to promise in Bergamo, leading 1-0 from the penalty spot seven minutes later, they were faced with fierce restraint from their opponent in the second half.

Atalanta executed their plan perfectly and stifled Liverpool, denying them space and chances.

Liverpool fans will point to a moment in the first half when Isak Hien handled the ball as Luis Diaz rushed through on goal as a tough call against them.

Crouch revealed he ‘screamed for a red card’ against Isak Hien in the first half

The central defender was penalized for a handball as Salah passed the ball to Luis Diaz.

Liverpool players immediately appealed, with the defender shown a yellow card but allowed to remain on the pitch.

Hien received a yellow card but could easily have received a red, which would have changed the outcome of the match.

Crouch was dismayed by the call not to send Hien off, saying: “I was screaming straight away for a red card. You can see he’s leaning on the ball.

“It’s a real arm swing. I think Diaz comes in here, I think he touches him. I think it should be a red card. He leans directly into it. I don’t think the player on the right is covering him.

“I can see why he didn’t give it away because the defender is coming to cover and I think he thinks he could make it. But he’s so good, Diaz, at getting after defenders.