Atalanta seemed to catch Liverpool by surprise in the first leg of the quarter final and Jurgen Klopp was quick to praise the performance of one man in particular.

Speaking with the press about Gianluca Scamacca, the 56-year-old said: “He was exceptional against us. He was really, really good – in England we say he was a ‘handful’!

“He is difficult to play against, great in the air and great on the floor. I liked him when he was at West Ham, I didn’t know him too well when he came to West Ham.

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“It didn’t work out there 100 per cent but that can happen because the Premier League is a difficult league to play but you can see he has great quality.”

With a brace at Anfield, the 25-year-old has 14 goals in all competitions this season but Virgil van Dijk will be hoping that he and his defence can make sure this number doesn’t rise any further.

Let’s hope we can keep the former West Ham striker quiet, as we look to score enough ourselves so that we can book a place in the semi final.

You can watch Klopp’s comments on Scamacca (from 24:01) via Liverpool FC on YouTube:

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Atalanta go into their Europa League quarter-final against Liverpool as outsiders, but one of their players is openly confident in his team’s ability to spring an upset.

Gianluca Scamacca already has experience of playing at Anfield, having featured there in West Ham’s defeat to the Reds 18 months ago, and he was speaking to Sky Sport (via Gianluca Di Marzio) ahead of the first leg on Thursday night.

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The 25-year-old boasted: “I think that Atalanta can beat anyone and that they can compete with anyone. We will absolutely go there to compete and to try to get through to the next round.”

However, the £97,468-per-week striker is under no illusion as to the task facing the Serie A outfit, adding: “Liverpool is one of the strongest teams in Europe, it is full of strengths.”

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Scamacca’s words might sound brash and bullish, but he’s hardly likely to publicly declare that his side have little or no hope against Liverpool.

Indeed, Atalanta won on their last visit to Anfield in November 2020, and that was under their current long-serving manager Gian Piero Gasperini, so he’ll back his players to repeat that feat tomorrow night.

Their recent form has been mixed, with an impressive 3-0 win away to Napoli followed up by a Coppa Italia exit to Fiorentina and a shock defeat against a Cagliari team battling relegation.

Liverpool haven’t been breezing through games of late, either – they needed two goals in the final 15 minutes to see off rock-bottom Sheffield United at Anfield just last week – so Jurgen Klopp will have his players warned not to take the Nerazzurri lightly.

However, if the Reds play to their full potential, their quality should shine through against an Atalanta side who are capable of causing problems with the likes of Scamacca and reported LFC target Teun Koopmeiners.

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