Atalanta 0-5 Liverpool
Liverpool may have found a new gem in Diogo Jota as he led them to their latest Champions League victory last Tuesday evening.
The young Portuguese scored a wonderful hat-trick to tow the Reds to a thumping 5-0 victory over Atalanta, and that pushed his club to the top of Group D after going undefeated in the first three matches.
With their latest victory, the Reds’ Champions League 2020 odds of making it through the knockout stages is growing bigger and bigger by the day. At the same, just recently, they’ve also reclaimed the top spot of the Premier League with 16 points.
They will meet Atalanta again in just a few weeks. But this time, it will be at the Anfield Stadium on November 26th.
Diogo Jota was given the nod to replace Roberto Firmino in the starting lineup for load management purposes and he clearly didn’t disappoint.
Alongside Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane also joined in the scoring party with one goal apiece, and Liverpool’s new triple threat looked as dangerous as ever.
This game had goals all over it, but little did we know that it will be a total annihilation against Atalanta.
Today, SBOTOP recaps all the Champions League 2020 highlights of this fun Tuesday night fixture.
Highlights of the game
Atalanta may have gotten back on track in Serie A, but they probably never saw this one coming.
From the get-go, Liverpool already took control of the pace by overwhelming Atalanta’s defenders.
Goalkeeper Marco Sportiello had to work hard all evening as he tried to prevent goals from the Reds, but his valiant effort would come up short.
His teammate in Luis Muriel had a great opportunity for Atalanta early on when he would run past multiple Liverpool defenders, but Alisson was there to save the day.
Sadio Mane gave Liverpool their first chance of the evening with a powerful strike in the middle at the 13th minute, but Marco Sportiello was alert enough to parry the shot away.
Then three minutes later, Diogo Jota would draw first blood via a chip shot when he collected a lovely volley pass by Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Luis Muriel would try to equalise in the 18th minute with a long-range effort, but it was a routine save for Alisson. Fellow striker Duvan Zapata would have his opportunity 10 minutes later, but it hit off the crossbar unfortunately.
Atalanta were left to rue their missed chances while Liverpool made sure to convert on theirs.
Diogo Jota would continue his fine form by scoring his second goal with aplomb as he was able to control Joe Gomez’s raking pass well and fired the ball in at the near post.
After the halftime break, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane took advantage at the demoralised backline of Atalanta by scoring two goals in just a span of five minutes.
Jota would cap off his superb night when he rolled in his third goal after collecting Sadio Mane’s volley in the 54th minute.
Key statistics
This game marks the biggest ever away win by Liverpool to an Italian side in European competition.
It was also the second-biggest defeat ever by an Italian side on home soil in European competition, after Roma’s 7-1 loss to Bayern Munich six years ago.
The Reds have won each of their past four away games in the Champions League group stage.
Diogo Jota is making Liverpool look like one of the biggest winners in the previous transfer window.
He became only the second player to score in his first two starts in the Champions League for the Reds, following Robbie Keane in 2008. The Portuguese international already has six goals in the last four matches for the last 10 days.
All five goals scored here were assisted, and Trent Alexander-Arnold has one of them. The speedy full-back has compiled 36 assists in all competitions – which is the most for a Premier League defender since his debut in October 2016.
Mohamed Salah has drawn level with Steven Gerrard for the most goals scored in the Champions League while donning a Liverpool uniform (21).
What’s next?
Liverpool will have a tough schedule at their hands in the next few weeks.
They will face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium next Monday night, and then they’ll host Leicester City on November 21st in what should be a cracker of a match.
Meanwhile, Atalanta will host Inter Milan at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia on Sunday, and then they’ll fly over to the Stadio Dino Manuzzi to visit Spezia on November 22nd.
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