Jurgen Klopp’s defiant admission despite Liverpool’s surprise loss to Atalanta

Jurgen Klopp had no regrets when a weakened Liverpool suffered an embarrassing defeat in the Champions League.

The Reds coach insisted: “I would do it again,” after watching his team put on a terrible performance to stumble into a 2-0 loss at the hands of a vibrant Atalanta team … without even registering a shot at door.

Klopp made five changes since the weekend and had a clear plan to contain the Italians before dispatching the cavalry for the last half hour in search of the victory that would guarantee advancement to the knockout stages.

But while his all-star quartet of Robertson, Firmino, Jota and Fabinho was on the touchline stripped down and ready to go, Atalanta put together a delicious opener.

It was a serious failure for Klopp, but he responded defiantly.

“We made five changes, it didn’t work out and that’s part of the deal,” he said.

“It’s not good enough, if you don’t have a target shot, it’s not a good sign. But I would do it again,” he said.

“When you make five changes and that gives you a pacing problem… unfortunately a second before we could change and bring in players, they scored the first. So we have to admit that it was a deserved defeat.

“It doesn’t sound good, but it was the truth.”

The weakened team, with so many star names on the bench, saw Liverpool fall to just their third defeat at Anfield in all competitions in 90 minutes in their last 90 matches here.

But they hardly bothered Atalanta’s goal, and they had to pay before the cavalry arrived, as the Italians exploited inexperienced weakness in the rear area.

Both goals came from good plays on the left side, with the first Josip Ilicic converting a good cross from Alejandro Gómez in the hour, before Gámez returned to show his class with another good ball, which headed down for Robin Gosens turned superbly.

It means that Klopp’s plan painfully failed, and perhaps it was too big a gamble to switch sides so much.

The victory would have guaranteed qualification and allowed the coach to rest his renowned players.

Now they must defeat Ajax to pass.

Unbelievably, the Reds didn’t even get a shot on goal, and Mo Salah provided his only real moment of the game when he took advantage of a good play down the left, but cut a shot with his right foot horribly over the bar.

The Italians were jubilant at the end, their coach Gian Piero Gasperini claimed it was the club’s biggest win.

“This will be something that is written on the pages of our history,” he said.

“It’s a shame there wasn’t a crowd present, this stadium is part of soccer history, and it’s a cruel twist of fate that our fans weren’t here to witness this.

“This was perhaps the most important match in our history, without a doubt the most prestigious victory.”

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