Jurgen Klopp defends Liverpool decision and makes 'low' admission after Atalanta defeat

Klopp defended his decision to make six changes in Liverpool's 3-0 Europa Leaguequarter-final defeat to Atalanta, insisting he "would do exactly the same again" given the chance.

The Reds suffered their sixth defeat of the campaign in a shock reverse to the Serie A side

Klopp opted to start Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz on the bench

Despite the raft of changes coinciding with the heaviest defeat of the term, Klopp says he would do the same once more given the opportunity

Klopp

“That’s how it is, we lose a game then it’s [because of] the changes, but I get the question 100%,"

“One of the reasons I would do exactly the same again is if we want to be good in the rest of the season we have to make changes.

“Harvey was all right, we didn’t take off the three worst players (at half-time).

“Curtis Jones came back from injury and you could see good moments, it was the most important training session he had since he’s back, 45 minutes.

“Harvey was all right. Kostas Tsimikas, not a lot of rhythm, so then you think to give the game a chance.

"By the way, we lost the second half 2-0 and the first half 1-0 so we don’t know which one was better, it’s just how it is.

“I am responsible for this result first and foremost, I know that. But the decision (about the starting line-up) would remain the same."

On questions of needing another European comeback next week

Klopp added:

'“I believe that it’s not the moment to talk about that.

"What I can say is I’m not in the mood to talk about the game in a week’s time as we have another in between, but we will have to try to play really good.

“We will try to win the game and see what we do from there.

“But it’s not the moment for having a big mouth and telling them what we will do there. We have to play a really good game when we go there.

“This was probably a low point for us performance-wise tonight, I would say, for a long time.

"It should be possible to play a little bit better (in the second leg). And if we can play a little bit better than we can play much better as well.

“But first and foremost Sunday. That’s much more important."