Very few saw Liverpool’s lifeless performance coming last Thursday, but they are still the superior team and have to believe they can produce a stunning comeback. The 0:3 defeat in Anfield was a huge surprise, and also a shocking result that nobody expected.

However, numbers are telling us a different story. It was a very equal game, with Liverpool dominating the possession with +65%, had more shots and almost the same shots on target. They created three big chances for themselves, but ultimately converted none to leave their Europa League hopes hanging by a thread. Also Liverpool had 1.63 expected goals (xG).

A lot of players didn’t have any rhythm, Tsimikas is the obvious proof of that, and it looked as though they’d never even met each other.

Exhaustion was also a factor, Van Dijk, Macca and Endo looked off their feet from early on and perhaps they underestimated Atalanta as well, they’ve been guilty of that a fair bit this season. I think the Reds underestimated them slightly on the night and were caught lacking concentration at the back. Liverpool weren’t quick enough to adapt and work out how to play against their man-marking system, and didn’t show any urgency until injury time.

An early goal for the Reds would immediately make Atalanta twitchy although, on the flip side, yet another opener conceded by Liverpool would effectively end the tie. Liverpool need as much encouragement as they can get and Atalanta may have offered them hope in recent days.

On Monday night, Gian Piero Gasperini’s side blew a 2-0 lead at home to Verona in Serie A, conceding twice in four minutes, dropping key points in the top-four battle.

The hope is that Atalanta’s legs are weary, having played 24 hours later than Liverpool, allowing Klopp’s side to take advantage. Perhaps surprisingly, Gasperini named an unchanged starting lineup against Verona, asking his players to go again.

Now, it will be intriguing to see how Atalanta line up against Liverpool, with three successive unchanged sides in a week a big risk.

The Reds have some key players returning back from injury into peak form, including Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota. If Klopp gets his tactics right, Liverpool have the quality to overturn the scoreline, especially given those two players' possible return.

I think it will be very difficult for Atalanta to manage this match. They know that there is no need to attack hard, so it will be difficult to motivate the players to attack knowing that they have a three goal advantage. This will make them use a bit more conservative tactics, leaving Liverpool to control the game again and attack.

I expect a very strong start and performance by Liverpool, who has been at a really high level during the whole season, and I’m convinced that Atalanta's game has been just an unlucky day, as sometimes happens in football to big teams.

The Reds have more experience, quality and arguments to make a comeback here.

很少有人看到利物浦在上周四的死气沉沉的表现，但他们仍然是一支优秀的球队，他们必须相信他们可以上演一场惊人的逆转。在安菲尔德0:3的失利是一个巨大的惊喜，也是一个没有人预料到的令人震惊的结果。

然而，数字告诉我们一个不同的故事。这是一场势均力敌的比赛，利物浦以65%的控球率占据统治地位，射门次数更多，射正次数几乎相同。他们为自己创造了三个重要的机会，但最终都没有转化，使他们的欧联杯希望悬于一线。利物浦也有1.63个预期进球。

很多球员都没有任何节奏，齐米卡斯就是最明显的证明，他们看起来好像从来没有见过面。

疲惫也是一个因素，范迪克，马卡和远藤从一开始就看起来很疲惫，也许他们也低估了亚特兰大，他们本赛季在这一点上犯了不少错。我认为红军在晚上稍微低估了他们，并且发现他们在后场缺乏注意力。利物浦没有足够的速度去适应和解决如何对抗他们的盯人体系，并且直到伤停补时才表现出任何紧迫感。

如果红军一开始就进球，亚特兰大马上就会紧张起来，但另一方面，如果利物浦再次失球，比赛就会结束。利物浦需要尽可能多的鼓励，而亚特兰大可能在最近几天给了他们希望。

周一晚上，吉安·皮耶罗·加斯佩里尼的球队在主场2-0领先的情况下被维罗纳击败，在四分钟内丢了两球，在前四的争夺中丢掉了关键的积分。

希望亚特兰大比利物浦晚踢了24个小时的比赛，让克洛普的球队占据优势。也许令人惊讶的是，加斯佩里尼在对阵维罗纳的比赛中任命了一个不变的首发阵容，并要求他的球员再次上场。

现在，亚特兰大对阵利物浦的阵容将是一个有趣的问题，一周内连续三支球队没有变化，这是一个很大的风险。

红军有一些关键的球员从伤病中恢复到巅峰状态，包括特伦特·亚历山大-阿诺德和迪奥戈·霍塔。如果克洛普的战术正确，利物浦有能力逆转比分，特别是考虑到这两名球员可能会回归。

我认为亚特兰大将很难应付这场比赛。他们知道没有必要努力进攻，所以在知道自己有三球优势的情况下，很难激励球员进攻。这将使他们使用更保守的战术，让利物浦再次控制比赛和进攻。

我期待利物浦有一个非常强劲的开局和表现，他们整个赛季都处于很高的水平，我相信亚特兰大的比赛只是不走运的一天，就像足球强队有时会发生的那样。

红军有更多的经验，实力和实力在这里卷土重来。