'Something bigger going on' - national media make worrying Liverpool point after Atalanta exit

Liverpool are left with just the Premier League to chase after their Europa League dream came to an end at the hands of Atalanta.

A 3-0 loss from the first leg last week did the damage with the Reds unable to complete a comeback in Bergamo on Thursday night, despite winning 1-0 through Mohamed Salah's early penalty.

The ECHO was at the Gewiss Stadium to provide its usual mix of player ratings, match analysis and big-game verdict, while our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to offer their own considered views....

IAN DOYLE: Liverpool face harsh reality as genuine Mohamed Salah concern emerges

PAUL GORST: Liverpool new manager blow clear as Europa League reminder shows what might have been

'Not even the return of Divock Origi himself would have re-energised a strikeforce which has lost its spark'

The Telegraph's Chris Bascombe mused: "Liverpool’s end of an era party in Dublin is off.

"There will be no ordering a treble in the Irish capital for Jurgen Klopp. He may yet end the season with a double, but a terrible week means it is the fans who are downing the shots. Liverpool, sadly, failed to deliver enough of them to keep European dreams intact.

"A narrow second leg win over Atalanta was not enough to prevent all the hopes of a romantic Klopp farewell to Uefa competition evaporating amid the blue smoke in Bergamo, the full-time firework display heralding the Italian side’s greatest scalp.

"Liverpool’s victory was hollow rather than heroic despite the promise of Mohamed Salah’s seventh minute penalty. 'We didn’t lose tonight. We lost it at home,' Klopp accurately summed it up. 'I am disappointed we didn’t go through, not angry.'

"The damage of the shocking 3-0 defeat at Anfield was already done. The spirit of that Barcelona comeback could not be invoked. Not even the return of Divock Origi himself would have re-energised a strikeforce which has lost its spark at the worst time."

'The shadow we saw here wasn’t the player who has illuminated European football for so many seasons'

Miguel Delaney, The Independent's chief football writer, scribed: "Now the end is near, and Jurgen Klopp didn’t even get to do it his way. There was no last great European comeback, of the type that really made the German’s legacy at Liverpool. The failure to even get close to such a feat against a resolute Atalanta indicates there may not be one last grandstand in the Premier League, either.

"Instead, rather than making everyone lament Klopp’s departure when there might be so much more to give, this was just another match that illustrated this era really is 'running out of energy', as he put it.

"The great Mohamed Salah almost personifies this. The shadow we saw here wasn’t the player who has illuminated European football for so many seasons. It would be unfair to put too much on him or even Klopp, however.

"There is something bigger going on here, which led to a performance so unusually low in scale. This was just too much, in a way you don’t usually hear about a Klopp team.

"Liverpool just didn’t conjure enough against a canny Atalanta, who more than deserved their place in a Europa League semi-final after a 3-1 aggregate victory. It was all the more impressive given that Liverpool had been gifted an early goal, of exactly the type that often invigorates these ties. Klopp’s side instead just went flat."

'The German is leaving Liverpool because he feels exhausted. Heavy metal can do that. His players are starting to flag too'

Writing for The Times, Martin Hardy stated: "Jurgen Klopp sat on his stool like an ­exhausted boxer and did not move. It was the closing moments of his last game as Liverpool manager in Europe, a momentous seven campaigns in European football coming to an end amid the noise of Atalanta.

"Juan Musso, the Atalanta goalkeeper, had just claimed a wayward cross, fallen and stayed on the ground. The noise in the stadium increased. Klopp, hunched on a stool beside the visitors’ dugout, offered only a gentle clap.

"The German is leaving Liverpool because he feels exhausted. Heavy metal can do that. His players are starting to flag too. Their effort could not be faulted. They led early through a Mohamed Salah penalty, after only seven minutes, and then the Gewiss Stadium, itself being rebuilt, lost some of its own energy."

'With apologies for an obvious pun, the stubborn display was a typical Italian Job'

The Daily Mail's Lewis Steele reflected: "If you are going to fail, then make sure you fail beautifully. That was the rallying cry of Jurgen Klopp before Liverpool attempted to write another chapter into the book of inspirational comeback triumphs in Europe.

"In the end, this will have to go down as a failure. It was not beautiful, but it was a satisfactory performance that has healed some of the psychological wounds of the last fortnight and given fans hope that the Jurgen Klopp era can still have a magical ending.

"Winning on the night, via an early Mohamed Salah penalty, stopped the rot after two losses and a draw in the weeks before threatened to derail their season. Liverpool ended this tie with some credit but the damage had already been done and they left with nothing.

"Klopp will hope the Premier League finale does not follow that pattern. The German manager now has just six dates remaining on his farewell tour. The days of following Klopp’s Reds around Europe - a journey yielding four finals and a sixth European Cup crown for the club - are over.

"Salah’s goal after just seven minutes set the senses tingling that another great comeback was well on the cards but Gian Piero Gasperini’s hard-working side soon settled and induced this tie to fizzle out. With apologies for an obvious pun, the stubborn display was a typical Italian Job."

'Forget miracles. Now Liverpool have no option but to cope with a dose of cold, harsh reality'

And writing in his ECHO match verdict, Ian Doyle, from Bergamo, wrote: "Forget miracles. Now Liverpool have no option but to cope with a dose of cold, harsh reality as they prepare for the final weeks of Jurgen Klopp’s reign.

"The dream of a Europa League final farewell and the Reds boss completing the set of major honours under his tenure may have realistically been extinguished during the harrowing first leg at Anfield a week ago.

"But it would be pushing matters to suggest this return in Bergamo pointed to what might have been for Liverpool, despite earning themselves some solace of victory on the night and ending a run of successive defeats.

"There had been the early hope offered by Mohamed Salah notching a penalty, with those looking for omens quick to point out the minute in which it was converted – the seventh – was the same as when Divock Origi opened the scoring on that famous night against Barcelona five years ago."