Atalanta vs Liverpool LIVE: Europa League team news and line-ups as Trent Alexander-Arnold starts for Reds

ATALANTA XI: Musso; Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac; Zappacosta, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Koopmeiners, Miranchuk; Scamacca.

Liverpool make three changes to the side that lost to Palace st the weekend. Nunez is replaced by Cody Gakpo, while the injured Bradley is replaced by Trent Alexander-Arnold, for his first start since February.

Szoboszlai comes in for Wataru Endo in midfield.

LIVERPOOL XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk, Konate, Robertson; Jones, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Salah, Gakpo, Diaz.

SUBS: Adrian, Kelleher, Gomez, Endo, Nunez, elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Clark, Danns, Quansah.

Liverpool’s recent form has been in stark contrast to the majority of the season, and they find themselves on the brink of a disappointing European exit and an exit from the title race.

If it suggests his mentality monsters lost their nerve in a pivotal week, Liverpool’s unravelling has felt a cause of fatigue and form, of a previously prolific side proving poor in both boxes, of a team who, as players returned, are in theory as strong as they have been for months but who have just delivered their two worst results of the campaign.

Read Richard Jolly’s Liverpool analysis piece below.

Conor Bradley has been ruled out for three weeks after suffering an ankle injury in the 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota and Alisson are now all back from injury and featured at the weekend. Klopp made changes for the first leg – and may do so again given Liverpool’s trip to Fulham in the Premier League is on Sunday and they must win every game to have a chance of winning the title.

Liverpool will almost certainly be safe in qualifying for next year’s Champions League, but their performance tonight could well affect the upcoming season for other English teams.

The Champions League is being expanded to a 36-team tournament from 2024/25 and two of the extra four places will be awarded to countries whose teams perform best in this season’s European competitions.

As confirmed by Uefa on their website, England currently sits third in the race, behind Italy and Germany, which would mean Serie A and the Bundesliga receive a fifth Champions League place next season.

Football betting sites see the Reds as favourites to win on the night, but Atalanta have already demonstrated their quality against Klopp’s side and are odds-on to punch their ticket for the semis.

A home win is priced at 4/1, while a draw is offered at 4/1. A Liverpool win is seen as the most likely result, with odds of 4/7.

Unsurprisingly, Liverpool have plunged down the rankings of favourites to win the competition – they’re currently ranked at 11/1.

Current favourites to win the Europa League are Bayer Leverkusen, at 5/4, and Atalanta at 9/2.

The match will kick off at 8pm BST on Thursday 18 April at the Gewiss Stadium, Bergamo. It will be shown live on TNT Sports 1 and Discovery +.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Europa League match, while you can get the latest match odds and tips here.

Good evening and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of tonight’s Europa League quarter-final second leg between Atalanta and Liverpool.