Erik ten Hag admits ‘it’s not easy to play against Atalanta’ and a draw is ‘not a negative result,’ but Ajax can rue fumbling a 2-0 lead.
The Dutch giants were 2-0 up at half-time in Bergamo thanks to a Dusan Tadic penalty and Lassine Traore pouncing on a Marco Sportiello spill.
However, Duvan Zapata bagged a brace in six minutes to complete the comeback for 2-2.
Erik ten Hag admits ‘it’s not easy to play against Atalanta’ and a draw is ‘not a negative result,’ but Ajax can rue fumbling a 2-0 lead.
The Dutch giants were 2-0 up at half-time in Bergamo thanks to a Dusan Tadic penalty and Lassine Traore pouncing on a Marco Sportiello spill.
However, Duvan Zapata bagged a brace in six minutes to complete the comeback for 2-2.
“I am disappointed, as we started badly and only later took control. It’s not easy to play against Atalanta, but we still should’ve scored to go 3-0 up,” said the coach in his press conference.
“It was a very intense match. Atalanta play well in the one-on-one situations and started the second half strong, so we should’ve kept it simple.”
Liverpool are now top of the group on six points, followed by Atalanta on four, Ajax one and Midtjylland zero.
“A draw against Atalanta is by no means a negative result, but as we were 2-0 up, we should’ve done more. We thought that we’d win this evening and should’ve been more reactive, because you don’t win playing like that.
“It was a wide open match and either side could’ve won it. I don’t know what happened for the equaliser, but Zapata had too much freedom.”
There was an ugly incident before the game, as the Ajax team bus was hit by a rock thrown as it arrived at the stadium.
“I heard something, saw a couple of Atalanta fans,” said Ten Hag.