Klopp and van Dijk experienced conflicting feelings as Liverpool defeated Atalanta but ultimately got eliminated from the Europa League, as reported by Metro.
Liverpool secured a narrow 1-0 victory against Atalanta in the Europa League on Thursday, but it couldn't rescue them from elimination following a 3-0 loss in the first leg. Despite their history of remarkable comebacks, reminiscent of their triumph over Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League, Liverpool couldn't replicate the feat this time. With their focus now solely on the Premier League title race after exiting the Europa League and previously winning the Carabao Cup, Jurgen Klopp's departure will be centered around that pursuit. The damage for Liverpool had already been done in the first leg at Anfield, with Mohamed Salah's early penalty only making a slight dent in Atalanta's lead. Although the match promised excitement, it failed to truly ignite into a frenetic spectacle.
Despite dominating much of the game, Liverpool couldn't score the necessary goals to overturn the deficit, resulting in their exit from the quarter-final stage of the competition. Klopp said: 'It was clear we gave ourselves a massive hurdle. I liked the game a lot tonight with the desire and power the boys show. It was incredible from them. 'It was really tricky, and we were too hasty in moments. We won the game and that was the reaction we wanted to show. It was difficult and we knew it would be, but they deserve to go through 100%.'
Liverpool captain Van Dijk, meanwhile, said: 'Firstly, credit to Atalanta. Last week we were very poor, and they had a good game. They deserved to go through because we made it far too difficult for ourselves. 'Tonight was a good game and we showed great fight. It was an improvement, but the reality is we are out, and we have to very quickly recover and travel to London on Saturday.'
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