Liverpool are making Jurgen Klopp promises look empty as careless manager mistakes clear

Not-so-beautiful-failure

Officially, the record books will say that Liverpool were victorious in this game.

But while a three-match winless run was arrested courtesy of Mohamed Salah's early penalty, there won't have been anyone shuffling out of Gewiss Stadium reflecting on a job well done for Jurgen Klopp's side.

Klopp had promised on Wednesday that if his team had to bow out of the Europa League then they would do so in the "most beautiful way" but much like the promise of a reaction at home to Crystal Palace last week after the 3-0 first-leg humbling, it proved to be little more than a neat, largely empty soundbite.

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The Reds boss and his famed oratory skills were enough for some to believe that a third famous European fightback on his watch was on the cards before kick off in Bergamo, but this was not a failure in the most beautiful way. Quite the opposite in many ways, despite the win.

In truth, this was an ugly game and a shrugging emoji of a performance from Liverpool, who seemed oddly indifferent to the plight that saw them needing three goals just to force extra time.

The all-round display betrayed the need to fight, to chase and, most pertinently, shoot past Atalanta's goalkeeper, Juan Musso, who, Salah's penalty aside, was rarely troubled all night. The Reds' slender victory, in fact, was probably fortunate.

So rather than rage against their fate by producing a stirring response or a memorable rallying, there will instead be no fond farewell for Klopp at Dublin's AVIVA Stadium next month. The manager who guided the club to its sixth European Cup in