Atalanta came back down to earth with a 5-0 home defeat, as Liverpool showed textbook counter-attacking football including a Diogo Jota hat-trick.
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Ajax won 2-1 away to Midtjylland, so catch Atalanta in second place on four points, while Liverpool now have seven.
Atalanta came back down to earth with a 5-0 home defeat, as Liverpool showed textbook counter-attacking football including a Diogo Jota hat-trick.
Follow all the action as it happens from this game and Real Madrid-Inter on the LIVEBLOG.
Ajax won 2-1 away to Midtjylland, so catch Atalanta in second place on four points, while Liverpool now have seven.
Both Gian Piero Gasperini and Jurgen Klopp had injuries to deal with, missing Robin Gosens, Marten de Roon, Mattia Caldara, Virgil van Dijk, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho. Hans Hateboer passed a late fitness test, but did not look anywhere near at his best.
While it was a huge event to welcome the Reds to the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo, it was unfortunately played behind closed doors due to the rising COVID-19 cases.
It took a couple of minutes for Liverpool to have their first shot on target, as Hans Hateboer passed a last-minute fitness test and let Diogo Jota go past him too easily, testing Marco Sportiello. Jota was used as a centre-forward, as Roberto Firmino was rested.
Johan Mojica kept up with ex-Roma star Mohamed Salah for an excellent last-ditch tackle, while Sadio Mane’s strike was palmed over the bar and Alisson used his foot to parry a Luis Muriel finish.
Diogo Jota opened the scoring when he ran on to a Trent Alexander-Arnold through ball and got in front of Jose Luis Palomino, dinking the finish over Sportiello.
Alisson let a Muriel effort squirm under him and had to reach back to grab the loose ball, while Duvan Zapata hit the crossbar only for a very tight offside call.
Jota scored his fifth goal in four competitive games this season, hooking down a Joe Gomez cross-field ball and turning much quicker than Hateboer to fire in first time into the near bottom corner from nine yards.
It was almost 3-0, but Sportiello made a fantastic save to fingertip Mane’s curler round the far post.
Straight after the restart, Atalanta were caught on the most basic of situations, a counter-attack from their own corner, as Sala sprinted from his own half to score.
The fourth goal wasn’t much better, as it started from a throw-in, Salah’s slide-rule pass sending Mane down the left to chip Sportiello from a tight angle.
Just as Atalanta created a chance with Mojica’s cross knocked back beyond Duvan Zapata, Liverpool scored on another ridiculously simple counter-attack finished by Diogo Jota on Mane’s through ball.
Duvan Zapata was desperately unlucky not to get on the scoresheet on 62 minutes, as he ran on to Gomez’s through ball, cut back to commit two defenders and his right-foot strike thumped the far top corner of the frame.
Alisson also had to make two very difficult saves on Duvan Zapata, one-handed on the angled drive and almost bent backwards by a powerful finish from close range. Atalanta were almost penalised on the counter from a corner yet again, Salah sprinting from midfield, but this time Sportiello got his gloves to it.
Duvan Zapata was very unlucky not to get a consolation in stoppages, as he found the back of the net, but was flagged offside.
Atalanta 0-5 Liverpool
Jota 16, 33, 55 (L), Salah 47 (L), Mane 49 (L)
Atalanta: Sportiello; Toloi, Palomino, Djimsiti; Hateboer (Depaoli 81), Pasalic (Malinovskyi 62), Freuler, Mojica (Ruggeri 81); Gomez (Lammers 81); Muriel (Pessina 52), Duvan Zapata
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (N Williams 82), R Williams, Gomez, Robertson (Keita 65); Henderson (Milner 65), Wijnaldum (Tsimikas 82), Jones; Salah, Mane, Jota (Firmino 65)
Ref: Hategan (ROU)