Key events
5 min: What an open game we have here! Twice Liverpool break forward inside a minute. Nunez finds space on the left but is well shepherded into shooting from an acute angle, which Musso gobbles up. Next Elliott gets to the byline, cuts the ball back and Mac Allister, under heavy pressure, skies it over.
4 min: Huge chance for Atalanta! De Roon is in on Elliott strongly, probably a foul, but the referee waves play on. It falls to Palisic in the box, a glorious chance, but Kelleher saves it with his face! What a save! Magnificent.
2 min: Some neat passing from Liverpool eventually finds Nunez on the edge of the box, but the Uruguayan canât get it out of his feet and Hien gets a challenge in before Musso cleans up.
Peeeeeeeeep!
And weâre off at Anfield.
Youâll Never Walk Alone is belted out, although the flags are indeed missing from the Kop. The teams are out. Liverpool in their famous red (and white trim), Atalanta in their away white strip. Why on earth arenât they wearing blue and black?!
Jürgen Klopp speaks!
We need to be ready for second-ball fights. The more we press, the more they will go long. Then we need to be ready.
We know they will have a âcompactâ block. Five at the back, three and two and then they will look to move on the counter.
We need to have fresh legs but keep the rhythm where we can. We have to invest a lot, go for them. Iâm happy with the line-up, happy with the options on the bench. Weâll see if we can use them.
A reminder that this is Liverpoolâs 50th match this season.
A shame that the build-up to this game has been dominated by Liverpoolâs plan to hike ticket prices. There will be no flags on the Kop for this match after Spion Kop 1906, the supportersâ group that organises the displays at Anfield, voiced its disapproval.
There are three other Europa League quarter-finals happening tonight, and every single one is enthralling.
Milan v Roma
Benfica v Marseille
⦠and Bayer Leverkusen v West Ham, which you can follow live here with Will Unwin.
The teams!
Neither side are messing about but there are a few changes: Diaz and Salah are rested, Tsimikas comes in for Robertson. The Reds are strengthened by the return of Alexander-Arnold, Bajcetic and Jota on the bench.
Atalanta make a host of changes since Saturdayâs game at Cagliari. Pasalic, De Ketelaere, Hien, Ruggeri, Musso all come into the XI.
Liverpool: Kelleher, Gomez, Konate, van Dijk, Tsimikas, Jones, Mac Allister, Endo, Elliott, Nunez, Gakpo.
Subs: Diaz, Szoboszlai, Salah, Adrian, Jota, Robertson, Gravenberch, Clark, Bajcetic, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Bradley.
Atalanta: Musso, Zappacosta, Djimsiti, Hien, Ruggeri, Ederson Silva, De Roon, Pasalic, Koopmeiners, Scamacca, De Ketelaere.
Subs: Toloi, Holm, Toure, Lookman, Bakker, Adopo, Carnesecchi, Rossi, Hateboer, Bonfanti, Miranchuk.
Preamble
This is the first proper European test for Liverpool. A much changed and weakened side fell to a sloppy defeat away at Toulouse in the Europa League group stage, but the Reds still qualified as group winners. You may have noticed this is Jürgen Kloppâs final season in charge of Liverpool, and everyone connected with the club is desperate to see him go out on a high. The Premier League, League Cup and Europa League treble would not match that of Manchester City last year, but ⦠itâs not bad, is it?
In Liverpoolâs way are Atalanta, who are a formidable opponent by anyoneâs reckoning. The Champions League regulars have also fallen into the second European tier this season but were unbeaten winners of their own group â ahead of much-heralded Sporting Lisbon â and lie sixth in Serie A, still very much in the hunt for the top four and ahead of last yearâs winners, Napoli.
They are not a team full of superstars , perhaps even lacking a talisman. Instead, players who have been cast aside by other clubs have been polished and coached into something collectively dangerous. Gianluca Scamacca, Ademola Lookman, Charles De Ketelaere have all previously failed to impress after big moves, but are finding their feet here in the blue and black. Marten de Roon, Mario Pasalic, Davide Zappacosta are all quietly impressive, proven internationals, while Teun Koopmeiners is having a brilliant season, with 10 goals since the turn of the year, and has been linked with Manchester United, Juventus and ⦠Liverpool. Some are suggesting that he is currently the best midfielder in Italy.
So, this should be a goodâun. The first of two legs, with a European semi-final at stake.
Kick-off: 8pm BST, 8pm in Bergamo.
