Klopp's Liverpool farewell at risk of fizzling out

Jurgen Klopp was headed for a glorious send-off in his final season at Liverpool just a few weeks ago, but talk of a potential quadruple is now long forgotten as the Reds have come off the rails.

Liverpool have a mountain to climb if they are to make the Europa League semifinals on Thursday after losing the first leg of their last-eight tie at home to Atalanta 3-0.

Klopp's men were also dumped out the FA Cup by Manchester United last month as the Red Devils edged a thrilling tie 4-3 at Old Trafford.

Liverpool failed to learn their lesson from that defeat as they were held 2-2 by United three weeks later and then stunned 1-0 at home by Crystal Palace in their last two Premier League games to fall two points behind Manchester City in the title race.

AFP Sport looks at what has gone wrong to leave Klopp's fitting farewell at risk of fizzling out.

Slow starts

Liverpool's habit of fighting back from losing positions was lauded earlier in the campaign as a sign of the "mentality monsters" Klopp has created throughout his time at Anfield.

They have amassed 27 points after falling behind in the Premier League alone this season, but saw their luck run out against Palace on Sunday after another slow start.

In all competitions, Liverpool have conceded the opening goal 21 times this season.

"It's been the story of the last few games and that's why we have been punished," said left-back Andy Robertson on his side's sluggish starts. "We are struggling to keep clean sheets right now."

Wasteful finishing

To compound a run of nine games without a clean sheet, Liverpool's forward line has also gone off the boil come the business end of the season.

In their last six league games, the 19-time English champions have scored nine goals from a total of