Gianluca Scamacca scored two of Atalanta’s three goals as the Italian side romped to victory at Anfield in the Europa League, but there’s still a second leg to come

Atalanta striker Gianluca Scamacca insists his team won’t get complacent ahead of the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Liverpool.

Liverpool had won four home games out of four in Europe with an aggregate score of 17-2 when they welcomed Atalanta to Anfield on Thursday night.

However, they were stunned as Scamacca scored twice and Mario Pasalic added a third.

Gianluca Scamacca (R) was Atalanta’s two-goal hero as they beat Liverpool at Anfield (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Jurgen Klopp’s side may yet cling on to some hope, having won 5-1 away to Sparta Prague in the previous round. Gian Piero Gasperini’s men are a different proposition, though, especially if they don’t rest on their laurels.

Scamacca, who joined from West Ham over the summer, moved onto 13 goals for the season with his brace on Merseyside. Speaking after the game, he recognised there’s still work to do back in Bergamo on April 18.

“Jokes aside, it’s a fantastic night because we believed in it from the start, we’re very happy,” Scamacca said, per TuttoMercatoWeb. However, he maintained Atalanta’s focus remains on finishing the job in the second leg, adding: “It’s not much against them, it’s not enough, you know.”

“We tried to live it as calmly as possible, entering the field with courage, helping each other,” the former Sassuolo frontman added. “You do feats like these as a team, not as an individual. Today I scored two goals, but if it hadn’t been for my teammates I wouldn’t have even scored it. It’s everyone’s credit.”

When encouraged to take in his own achievement, Scamacca refused to get carried away. “There’s the return leg, I don’t want to be fooled by the enthusiasm, by the two goals. I have to stay calm for a moment, then we’ll see next week.”

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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made his feelings clear after the game (
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Liverpool went into the tie with hopes of completing a treble in Jurgen Klopp’s final season, sitting second in the Premier League and having won the Carabao Cup already. After the home loss, though, their manager pulled no punches.

“Unfortunately there is nothing really positive to say about the game,” Klopp told TNT Sports. “The start was good and we were maybe unlucky with Harvey [Elliott] hitting the crossbar and that period we 100% deserved to be 1-0 up. Darwin [Nunez]’s chance was another good moment so that was really good.

“But from a specific moment on it became a really bad game and there is nothing positive to say about that. I didn’t like our discipline in possession. We were everywhere, which then means nowhere. No counter-press, we played into their hands.

“A lot of performances tonight were really ‘oops, wow, I didn’t know they could play like that.’ A lot of the players looked really alone in a lot of moments. It was really bad. We had our biggest chances in the end and didn’t use them.”