With Alexis Mac Allister starting his sixth game in 19 days on Thursday night at Atalanta, Jurgen Klopp hinted his “crazy” feat could cost him a place vs. Fulham.

Following the 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday, Klopp admitted that he had been forced to play both Mac Allister and Wataru Endo more than he should have.

But while Endo dropped out of the starting lineup for the second leg of Liverpool’s Europa League quarter-final four days later, the Argentine was retained.

Mac Allister went on to play the full 90 minutes, which he has done in each of the last six games in a ridiculous 19-day run.

With a trip to Fulham to come on Sunday, three days after the loss in Italy, the manager reflected on Mac Allister’s “absolutely insane” feat.

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“You saw tonight, Trent Alexander-Arnold, a player we didn’t have for a while now,” Klopp told reporters.

“As long as he was fresh he, together with Macca, set the tempo, the rhythm, the direction of the game.

“Then obviously he was running out of gas a bit.

“Macca had to go through this game, which is crazy, and the way he did it is absolutely insane.”

Mac Allister has clocked 540 minutes – or nine hours – on the pitch in under three weeks, averaging a full game of football every 3.2 days.

Virgil van Dijk is the only other Liverpool player to do so, though his role is less intense than that of a No. 8 or No. 6 in Klopp’s midfield.

With Endo shuffled out against Atalanta, the likelihood is that Mac Allister will be considered for a rest on Sunday at Craven Cottage.

Whether Liverpool can afford to leave the 25-year-old out, however, is a different question, as he has consistently been one of, if not the, best players on the pitch in every game.

Klopp does have other midfield options, with Harvey Elliott a prime candidate and Ryan Gravenberch also available, but the manager has been reluctant to start either of late.

There are only six games left to play now this season following Liverpool’s exit from the Europa League – but while the temptation will be to push the likes of Mac Allister through, Klopp will have to remain sensible.

In his post-match interview with TNT Sports he conceded: “We have to see who can go again.”

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Liverpool's hopes of ending Jürgen Klopp's reign with the one trophy missing from his collection are over. There will be no Dublin send-off for the German after the Reds' exit from the Europa League.

With the damage already done at Anfield last week, Liverpool could only muster a 1-0 win in the second leg of its quarter-final against Atalanta. Mohamed Salah scored the only goal from the penalty spot as the Reds crashed out 3-1 on aggregate.

Yet again, it was a similar story to recent outings, with Liverpool wasting its opportunities during the first half, before a rather lackluster effort in the second period confirmed its exit. It leaves the Reds with just the Premier League to play for now, and just six games remaining before Klopp bids farewell to Anfield.

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The UK's media were of course in attendance in Bergamo to see Liverpool's exit from Europe. Here's a round-up of what they made of Klopp's last European game in charge of the Reds.

Chris Bascombe, The Telegraph: "Liverpool’s end of an era party in Dublin is off.

"There will be no ordering a treble in the Irish capital for Jürgen Klopp. He may yet end the season with a double, but a terrible week means it is the fans who are downing the shots. Liverpool, sadly, failed to deliver enough of them to keep European dreams intact.

"A narrow second leg win over Atalanta was not enough to prevent all the hopes of a romantic Klopp farewell to Uefa competition evaporating amid the blue smoke in Bergamo, the full-time firework display heralding the Italian side’s greatest scalp.

"Liverpool’s victory was hollow rather than heroic despite the promise of Mohamed Salah’s seventh minute penalty. 'We didn’t lose tonight. We lost it at home,' Klopp accurately summed it up. 'I am disappointed we didn’t go through, not angry.'

"The damage of the shocking 3-0 defeat at Anfield was already done. The spirit of that Barcelona comeback could not be invoked. Not even the return of Divock Origi himself would have re-energised a strikeforce which has lost its spark at the worst time."

Miguel Delaney, The Independent: "Now the end is near, and Jürgen Klopp didn’t even get to do it his way. There was no last great European comeback, of the type that really made the German’s legacy at Liverpool. The failure to even get close to such a feat against a resolute Atalanta indicates there may not be one last grandstand in the Premier League, either.

"Instead, rather than making everyone lament Klopp’s departure when there might be so much more to give, this was just another match that illustrated this era really is 'running out of energy', as he put it.

"The great Mohamed Salah almost personifies this. The shadow we saw here wasn’t the player who has illuminated European football for so many seasons. It would be unfair to put too much on him or even Klopp, however.

"There is something bigger going on here, which led to a performance so unusually low in scale. This was just too much, in a way you don’t usually hear about a Klopp team.

"Liverpool just didn’t conjure enough against a canny Atalanta, who more than deserved their place in a Europa League semi-final after a 3-1 aggregate victory. It was all the more impressive given that Liverpool had been gifted an early goal, of exactly the type that often invigorates these ties. Klopp’s side instead just went flat."

Martin Hardy, The Times: "Jürgen Klopp sat on his stool like an ­exhausted boxer and did not move. It was the closing moments of his last game as Liverpool manager in Europe, a momentous seven campaigns in European football coming to an end amid the noise of Atalanta.

"Juan Musso, the Atalanta goalkeeper, had just claimed a wayward cross, fallen and stayed on the ground. The noise in the stadium increased. Klopp, hunched on a stool beside the visitors’ dugout, offered only a gentle clap.

"The German is leaving Liverpool because he feels exhausted. Heavy metal can do that. His players are starting to flag too. Their effort could not be faulted. They led early through a Mohamed Salah penalty, after only seven minutes, and then the Gewiss Stadium, itself being rebuilt, lost some of its own energy."

Lewis Steele, Daily Mail: "If you are going to fail, then make sure you fail beautifully. That was the rallying cry of Jürgen Klopp before Liverpool attempted to write another chapter into the book of inspirational comeback triumphs in Europe.

"In the end, this will have to go down as a failure. It was not beautiful, but it was a satisfactory performance that has healed some of the psychological wounds of the last fortnight and given fans hope that the Jürgen Klopp era can still have a magical ending.

"Winning on the night, via an early Mohamed Salah penalty, stopped the rot after two losses and a draw in the weeks before threatened to derail their season. Liverpool ended this tie with some credit but the damage had already been done and they left with nothing.

"Klopp will hope the Premier League finale does not follow that pattern. The German manager now has just six dates remaining on his farewell tour. The days of following Klopp’s Reds around Europe — a journey yielding four finals and a sixth European Cup crown for the club — are over.

"Salah’s goal after just seven minutes set the senses tingling that another great comeback was well on the cards but Gian Piero Gasperini’s hard-working side soon settled and induced this tie to fizzle out. With apologies for an obvious pun, the stubborn display was a typical Italian Job."

Liverpool.com says: Well, it wasn't supposed to end like this. Even in victory, Liverpool just looked like a side running out of steam. With six games still to go and the Premier League still to fight for, it doesn't look to promising for a fairy tale end to Klopp's time in charge.

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Liverpool ECHO by clicking here.

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Liverpool started strong but were quickly snuffed out in their Europa League decider at Atalanta, with Alisson‘s post-match statistics summing the night up.

Hopes were kindled when, with just seven minutes on the clock, Mohamed Salah netted his penalty to bring the aggregate scoreline to 3-1 in Thursday’s quarter-final.

But that was to be Liverpool’s peak in a second leg that promised much but, as has often been the case of late, delivered little.

The Reds dominated possession in Bergamo, with 70 percent of the ball per FotMob, but they increasingly struggled to even break out of the middle third of the pitch.

Ibrahima Konate (106) was the only player to end the game with more touches than Alisson (105), while no player completed more passes than the goalkeeper (82).

More startingly, though, according to Opta’s Michael Reid, Alisson made more passes than any other goalkeeper in either the Champions League or Europa League since records began.

Alisson touched the ball more than two times the amount of opposite number Juan Musso (46), and his total of completed passes was more than five times that of the Atalanta stopper (15).

It highlights just how difficult Liverpool found it to break down Atalanta, who employed man-marking throughout both legs of the tie.

A familiar pattern set in during the second half as Alisson recycled the ball to his centre-backs, with Alexis Mac Allister also dropping in to keep possession ticking.

There was never a killer ball, though, and rarely even an attempt to break the lines – with one notable situation seeing Curtis Jones collect from Konate and slow play down just as the Frenchman looked to drive through midfield.

That Alisson saw so much of the ball is not an issue in itself, given Liverpool won the game – but in the context of a two-legged tie, it clearly was.

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It is a well-trodden path that many managers have followed. When taking over at a new club, they look to strengthen by bringing in those players that they know best.

And as Rúben Amorim continues to be linked with replacing Jürgen Klopp this summer, it is no surprise to see Liverpool linked with members of his talented Sporting CP squad. After all, this is a team that sits seven points clear at the top of the Portuguese Primeira Liga table and is on the verge of a league and cup double.

Amorim has so far given very little away about his future and insists his focus remains on the task at hand. At this stage, it appears a decision will only be made once the season comes to an end.

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With Liverpool likely in need of at least one defensive reinforcement this summer, a couple of Sporting talents have emerged as possible targets. According to A Bola, Gonçalo Inácio has been scouted on multiple occasions this season., while Jornal de Notícias reports that Ousmane Diomande is also on the radar.

Neither will come cheap though with both boasting significant release clauses. Diomande, who is also reportedly a target for Chelsea and Newcastle, would cost around $85m (£68m/€79m).

Denmark international Morten Hjulmand has also been mooted as a potential target. Give Me Sport claims he has admirers at Anfield, with Manchester United also in the mix.

But one of the more interesting links is with ex-Coventry striker Viktor Gyökeres, who has hit the ground running in Portugal. He only arrived last summer but has already found the net 36 times in just 44 appearances for Sporting. HITC suggests Amorim would look to bring him to Anfield, if he is appointed this summer.

Sporting legend Manuel Fernandes even admitted he hopes the Swede would join Liverpool or Bayern Munich when the times come for him to move on. Any move for another attacker is likely to hinge on the futures of Mohamed Salah and Luis Díaz though, with both facing uncertain futures this summer.

Gyökeres' agent Hasan Cetinkaya previously spoke of the relationship between Amorim and the striker, telling A Bola: "It will be more difficult for Viktor to stay if Rúben leaves Sporting because Viktor came precisely because of Rúben. The day we met, I said to Rúben: ‘Here’s my boy, he came to Sporting because of you’.”

Now the Mirror claims that Liverpool could face competition from title rivals Arsenal for the 25-year-old. It is claimed that Mikel Arteta will be given a hefty transfer budget to improve his strike force this summer, with Gyökeres one of six potential targets.

Other options include Newcastle striker Alexander Isak and RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko but it is claimed the Gunners have been 'tracking' Gyökeres and could rival Liverpool for his signature.

Liverpool.com says: Sporting is having a fantastic season under Amorim and Gyökeres has played a big part in that. He cost the club just $22m (£17m/€20m) a year ago but would command a lot more now. Arsenal's need for a striker does seem greater than Liverpool's but it could be an area that the Reds' next boss looks to strengthen. If Amorim does take over, you'd hope he may be able to tempt Gyökeres to come with him.

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