Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE RED WOW
Jota’s the hat-trick hero as Klopp’s unstoppable machine show no mercy to hapless Italians
RED-HOT Diogo Jota hit a stunning hat-trick that almost guarantees Liverpool a place in the knockout stages after just three matches.
It was a dream performance and dream result for manager Jurgen Klopp, who now has the luxury of resting players later in the competition with his side on nine points from three games, for the first time in their history.
The German coach (getting booked, right) was left beaming as his tinkering proved so decisive. He left Roberto Firmino out and named Jota in the starting line-up and it worked like a dream.
Jota , the undoubted star, became only the third Liverpool player, after Michael Owen and S a d i o Ma n e , to score a European hat-trick away from home.
Mohamed Salah and Mane were equally outstanding, contributing a goal each and ripping Atalanta apart with their pace and movement.
And 19-year-old centre-half Rhys Williams showed he has big future with a flawless display as the Reds condemned Atalanta to only their second home defeat in Europe in 17 games. Former Wolves star Jota has made an explosive start at Liverpool. In the space pace of 10 days he has scored d six goals in four games, es, and he provided a crucial contribution in three of those contests. He could only have dreamed of those stats when n he made the move ove from Molineux in n the summer.
What he has shown above all, and this will excite Liverpool fans most, is the ice in his veins. None of his finishes last night was easy – he just made them look like they were.
Klopp has a knack of finding wide player players with pace who can finish finish, and the £45million Po Portuguese signing ri right now looks the e equal of even Salah and Mane.
Klopp deser ves special praise for his tactical approach to what looked an incredibly tough fixture. On paper at least. He realised Atalanta would be open and so dropped Firmino to allow his three quickest players the freedom of a f luid front line. It
worked perfectly, with all three forwards dovetailing superbly as Liverpool beat Atalanta in a hack canter.
On this performance, the Reds definitely have their Mo-jo back.
It all began in the 16th minute, with t h e P re mi e r L e a g u e champions by then already well in control.
An inch-perfect pass by Trent Alexander-arnold found Jota darting into the Atalanta box and his dinked finish with the outside of his left foot was pure perfection.
His second was even better. This time Joe Gomez angled a long ball to the left of the penalty area and the Portuguese forward dragged it expertly from the sky before exploding a right-foot finish into the Atalanta net.
Salah and Mane were enjoying themselves almost as much as their new team-mate and, within four minutes of the second half, they had ended the game as a contest with a goal apiece.
Salah’s goal, Liverpool’s third, was one we’ve seen so often. A punt out of defence from Andy Robertson put the Egyptian clear and he left defenders in his slipstream before curling a leftfooted shot into the far corner.
Salah is now the second-highest goalscorer in Europe for
Liverpool, alongside Michael Owen on 22, and behind only Steve Gerrard, who has 41.
Salah then turned provider to allow Mane to show his class in front of goal on 49 minutes. The Senegal flyer raced onto a slicing pass to dink over the goalkeeper.
The best was kept for Jota’s hat-trick (celebrating, right), Mane reproducing Salah’s sliderule pass to send the former Wolves man through the middle to beat the keeper to the ball and roll into an empty net.
It was a warning for the rest of Europe that Liverpool mean business in the Champions League once again.