UEFA CL MD 3: Jota completes hat trick to perfect Reds in Europe; Atalanta 0 - 5 Liverpool

Jota became the third player to have hit an away hat-trick for Liverpool in Europe, after Michael Owen (twice) and Mané.

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Nov 3, 2020 - 17:25
UEFA CL MD 3: Jota completes hat trick to perfect Reds in Europe; Atalanta 0 - 5 Liverpool
Diogo Jota celebrate his hattrick

Diogo Jota completed his first European hat trick as Liverpool scored five to grab all points at Atalanta on Tuesday night.

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were also on the score sheet to give the Reds a perfect record in this season’s Champions League without conceding a goal in this campaign.

The win was also the biggest ever by an English club away to Italian opposition in European competition.

Liverpool are runaway leaders at the top with nine points trailed by Ajax and Atalanta with four each.

The English side began the game well with a huge chance inside 90 seconds for Liverpool. Jota, who started ahead of Firmino caught inside Hateboer and was one on one with the goalkeeper, who dived low to his left to keep out the effort.

The Reds found spaces in Atalanta’s play due to the home side’s commitment of numbers forward. It was a high-risk strategy that the Reds looked to exploit.

Jota scored the first goal for the Reds in the 16-minute.  Alexander-Arnold threaded a pass into the right channel for Jota, who held off Palomino and clipped his finish past the goalkeeper.

 Atalanta seemed hit by the opening goal as they struggled to create chances. Wiliams proved solid in getting the better of Zapata down the Atalanta left-hand channel as he kept threatening the Reds with his moves. He was on target in the 30-minute but the referee quickly whistled for a foul against the Atalanta forward.

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Jota added a second in the 33-minute assisted by Gomez. The centre back drove the cross-field ball in behind Hateboer and Jota controlled expertly with his first touch before firing low past the goalkeeper with his second. Minutes later, Sadio Mane had an attempt on goal but his curler into the far corner of the net was saved by Sportiello.

The Reds offered a show of authority in the first period. They played with impressive control and finished the first half with terrific sharpness through Jota, a player in a rich vein of form.

The Italians came strongly in the second half and were awarded a corner but Liverpool were quick to provide a good clearance.

Salah added the Reds third of the night assisted by Jones in the 47-minute. Gómez's poor near-post corner was drilled clear by Jones and Salah latched on to it, galloped into the area from halfway and bent his finish around the goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Mane connected Salah threading pass over Sportiello.

 It rained goals for the Reds as a comeback became impossible for the homeside who seem to have surrendered. Pessina took the place of Muriel in the 53-minute before Jota completed his hattrick a minute late, assisted by Salah.

It was beautiful curling through ball from Mané to release Jota, who got there before the goalkeeper and then rolled his finish into an unguarded net.

The Portuguese became the third player to have hit an away hat-trick for Liverpool in Europe, after Michael Owen (twice) and Mané.

Firmino, Milner and Keita replaced Jota, Henderson and Robertson as the Reds kept the ship steady. Alisson made a couple of saves but the end of the game was Atalanta 0 – 5 Liverpool.

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