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After an entertaining opening half of football, Liverpool take a two-goal lead in at the break. Both teams had chances to score in the opening stages of the game, but a deft chip into the bottom-left corner from Jota broke the deadlock after 16 minutes. The Portuguese winger struck again shortly after the half-hour mark, peeling away at the back post before clinically beating Sportiello from close range to give the visitors a two-goal cushion at half-time.
45′ HALF TIME: ATALANTA 0-2 LIVERPOOL
44′ Klopp’s side are in complete control of proceedings at present. Atalanta are pressing well, but Liverpool are comfortably knocking it around with one-touch passes as they seek to retain possession.
42′ Salah collects the ball from Jones and attempts to spin beyond Toloi inside the home side’s box. The Egyptian’s first touch gets away from him, and Mojica watches it go behind for a goal-kick.
40′ Jota has now scored five goals across his last four Liverpool appearances, while only Salah (8) has scored more often than the Portuguese international (6) for the Reds this season.
38′ In the other match in Group D, Ajax currently lead Midtjylland 2-1.
36′ ALMOST A THIRD! Liverpool come again at real pace. The ball gets played into the path of Mane, who drives forward, cuts onto his right foot, and sees his well-struck shot from the edge of hosts’ box tipped behind for a corner when it looked destined for the back of the net.
J. Gomez
Assist
33′ Gomez deserves immense credit for his role in the goal. Although Jota’s finish will take the headlines, the defender showed great awareness to find the Portuguese attacker in acres of space at the far post.
Diogo Jota
Goal
33′ GOAL! WHAT A FINISH! Gomez lofts an inviting cross into the far post following a free-kick situation. Jota’s first touch takes him inside, and he reacts quickly to fire the ball into the bottom-left corner beyond Sportiello, who stood no chance with that one. 2-0.
32′ Muriel impedes Wijnaldum as the Dutchman looks to counter and Liverpool are awarded a free-kick in the centre of the park.
31′ Henderson drives a forward pass towards Salah on the edge of the area. Toloi, however, reads the danger and intercepts the ball.
29′ Zupata finds himself in behind the Liverpool defence following a pass from Pasalic, and after his effort from the left side of box deflects off Alexander-Arnold and onto the bar, the flag goes up for offside.
28′ Muriel looks to float a cross into the centre of the Liverpool box for Zupata, although his lofted delivery is overhit, allowing Alexander-Arnold to pick up the loose ball down the far side.
26′ Alexander-Arnold whips an inviting cross in towards the far post for Mane to attack, but the referee’s assistant has his flag up for offside against the Senegalese winger.
24′ Robertson picks the ball up following a set-piece, and lashes a fierce strike well wide to the right of Sportiello’s goal.
23′ Jota finds space down the left-hand side of the field, and, after getting the better of Hateboer, sees his cross turned away to safety by Palomino.
C. Jones
Yellow Card
21′ Jones is also booked for dissent following Wijnaldum’s foul on Gomez.
G. Wijnaldum
Yellow Card
21′ Wijnaldum picks up the first yellow card of the match after cynically bringing down Gomez when the Atalanta captain looked to break. He can have no complaints with that decision.
19′ SAVE! Freuler spots Muriel on the edge of the visitors’ penalty area and slides a pass into his path. After cutting onto his left foot, his strike is fumbled by Alisson in the centre of the box, but the Brazilian quickly gathers the loose ball.
18′ Jota is only the second player to score in his first two starts in the Champions League for Liverpool, following Robbie Keane back in 2008.
T. Alexander-Arnold
Assist
16′ Alexander-Arnold has started brightly and delivered a textbook pass as he spotted Jota’s run beyond the hosts’ backline, and the new signing calmly applied the finish. An excellent Liverpool goal.
Diogo Jota
Goal
16′ GOAL! Liverpool take the lead! Alexander-Arnold plays a well-weighted throughball beyond the Atalanta defence for Jota to chase. The Portuguese attacker holds off his man and chips Sportiello from close range. 1-0.
15′ OPPORTUNITY! Jones bursts into the away side’s box, cuts inside onto his left foot, and fires towards the bottom-right corner. The midfielder’s effort is tame, and Sportiello denies him with his legs.
15′ GREAT CHANCE! After a foul from Williams, the hosts quickly work a quick free-kick forward for Muriel. After twisting and turning, his effort from close range takes a deflection before being stopped by Alisson’s legs.
14′ SMART SAVE! Salah shows good strength to hold off Djimsiti on the edge of the box and feed the ball to his left for Mane. The winger quickly turns onto his left foot before going for goal from range, and Sportiello is alert to tip the well-struck effort over the bar.
12′ The away side are enjoying a good spell of possession at present. Atalanta are camped in their own half as the Reds search for an opening.
10′ Alexander-Arnold skips beyond Mojica down the right-hand side of the field and drives a low cross into the box. Djimsiti watches the delivery and scoops it to safety with Jota lurking on the penalty spot.
8′ Some clever play from Mane sets Wijnaldum away in the centre of the park. The Dutchman lays it off to his left for Jota, although his return pass is overhit and runs through to Sportiello.
6′ Alexander-Arnold fires a long, searching ball in behind the Atalanta defence for Salah to chase. The Egyptian gets to the pass first, before Mojica goes to ground and puts it behind for a corner to the right, which comes to nothing.
4′ Toloi fires a pass into the path of Zupata, who is closely marked by Gomez, but Robertson spots the danger and intercepts on the edge of Liverpool’s box.
2′ CHANCE! Jota picks the ball up on the edge of the hosts’ penalty area from Jones and skips into the box. On his left foot, the attacker fires towards the bottom-right corner, but Sportiello is down quickly to deny the winger.
1′ Kick off! The referee, Ovidiu Hategan, blows his whistle and Liverpool get us underway.
The teams are out, and kick-off will soon be upon us here at Gewiss Stadium.
This is Liverpool’s first ever encounter with Atalanta in any competition.
The home side come into this match without suffering a defeat in any of their last four matches in all competitions. Moreover, Gian Piero Gasperini’s team have scored in every game thus far this season. Liverpool, on the other hand, are unbeaten in their previous five fixtures. The Premier League champions have also been defensively solid in their opening two matches in Group D, as they are yet to concede a goal in the Champions League.
There are three changes from the home side that beat Crotone last time out in Serie A. Palomino, Freuler and Zapata all return to the starting team, with Romero, Ahmad Benali and Malinovskiy being replaced. Jurgen Klopp, on the other hand, makes two alterations following his team’s recent league win over West Ham. Williams comes into the heart of defence in place of Nathaniel Phillips, while Firmino drops to the bench and Jota comes in to start.
LIVERPOOL SUBS: Adrian, Coaimhin Kelleher, Joel Matip, Kostas Tsimikas, Neco Williams, Jake Cain, James Milner, Naby Keita, Xherdan Shaqiri, Takumi Minamino, Divock Origi, Roberto Firmino.
ATALANTA SUBS: Francesco Rossi, Pierluigi Gollini, Fabio Depaoli, Giorgio Scalvani, Matteo Ruggeri, Cristian Romero, Matteo Pessina, Ruslan Malinovskiy, Josip Ilicic, Amad Diallo Traore, Aleksey Miranchuk, Sam Lammers.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Rhys Williams, Joe Gomez, Andrew Robertson; Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Curtis Jones; Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Sadio Mane.
ATALANTA (3-5-2): Marco Sportiello; Rafael Toloi, Jose Luis Palomino, Berat Djimsiti; Hans Hateboer, Remo Freuler, Mario Pasalic, Alejandro Gomez, Johan Mojica; Luis Muriel, Duvan Zapata.
Atalanta come into this game looking build on their previous result after drawing 2-2 with Ajax in their last outing in Group D. Liverpool, meanwhile, made it back-to-back Champions League victories after beating FC Midtjylland 2-0.
Hello and welcome to live match coverage of the Champions League fixture in Group D between Atalanta and Liverpool at Gewiss Stadium.
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