'Hollow rather than heroic' - UK media makes Mohamed Salah point after Liverpool exit vs Atalanta

Liverpool's hopes of ending Jürgen Klopp's reign with the one trophy missing from his collection are over. There will be no Dublin send-off for the German after the Reds' exit from the Europa League.

With the damage already done at Anfield last week, Liverpool could only muster a 1-0 win in the second leg of its quarter-final against Atalanta. Mohamed Salah scored the only goal from the penalty spot as the Reds crashed out 3-1 on aggregate.

Yet again, it was a similar story to recent outings, with Liverpool wasting its opportunities during the first half, before a rather lackluster effort in the second period confirmed its exit. It leaves the Reds with just the Premier League to play for now, and just six games remaining before Klopp bids farewell to Anfield.

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The UK's media were of course in attendance in Bergamo to see Liverpool's exit from Europe. Here's a round-up of what they made of Klopp's last European game in charge of the Reds.

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

"There will be no ordering a treble in the Irish capital for Jürgen 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."

Miguel Delaney, The Independent: "Now the end is near, and Jürgen 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."

Martin Hardy, The Times: "Jürgen 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."

Lewis Steele, Daily Mail: "If you are going to fail, then make sure you fail beautifully. That was the rallying cry of Jürgen 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 Jürgen 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."

Liverpool.com says: Well, it wasn't supposed to end like this. Even in victory, Liverpool just looked like a side running out of steam. With six games still to go and the Premier League still to fight for, it doesn't look to promising for a fairy tale end to Klopp's time in charge.

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Liverpool ECHO by clicking here.