Liverpool stroll past Sparta
PARIS: Liverpool surged towards the Europa League quarter-finals with a 5-1 win at Sparta Prague on Thursday.
Liverpool remain on course to send Juergen Klopp off with a quadruple of trophies as the Reds were not distracted by tomorrow’s mammoth Premier League showdown against Manchester City.
Klopp named a strong side and got what he wanted by killing off the tie in the first leg, even if there was a price to pay in further injury problems as centre-back Ibrahima Konate limped off.
Alexis Mac Allister got the visitors off to the perfect start in the Czech capital as he won and converted a penalty after just seven minutes.
Sparta had dumped out Galatasaray in the previous round and created plenty of chances against a makeshift Liverpool defence.
But the difference in quality between the sides showed in the final third.
Darwin Nunez’s dipping shot from long range outfoxed Peter Jensen to make it 2-0, before the Uruguayan smashed home Mac Allister’s through ball in first-half stoppage time.
“He has the most important attitude a striker needs to have in these chances,” Klopp said of Nunez.
“He’s just a constant threat and he gives us some spaces and areas and options.”
Conor Bradley replaced Joe Gomez at half-time and his first act was to fire into the top corner of his own goal one minute into the second half.
But Luis Diaz’s deflected effort quickly restored Liverpool’s threegoal cushion.
Mohamed Salah made his comeback from a hamstring injury as a substitute and thought he had marked his return with a goal, but a VAR review disallowed his strike for offside.
Instead, it was another substitute Dominik Szoboszlai who fired in the fifth in stoppage time.
Meanwhile Bayer Leverkusen are well on course to win their first-ever Bundesliga title but have work to do to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.
Yassine Benzia and a brilliant piece of skill from Juninho had Azeri champions Qarabag in dreamland just before the break.
Coach Xabi Alonso had rested a number of his key players and the Germans improved with a series of changes after the break.
Two of the Spaniards substitutes Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick scored in the final 20 minutes to preserve Leverkusen’s unbeaten record in 35 games in all competitions this season.
In the other games, Roma thrashed Brighton 4-0 in the Italian capital while AC Milan beat 10-man Slavia Prague 4-2.
RESULTS Last 16 first legs
Sparta Prague (CZE) 1 (Bradley 46-og) Liverpool (ENG) 5 (Mac Allister 6-pen, Nunez 25, 45+3, Diaz 53, Szoboszlai 90+4); Roma (ITA) 4 (Dybala 12, Lukaku 43, Mancini 64, Cristante 68) Brighton (ENG) 0; Qarabag (AZE) 2 (Benzia 26, Juninho 45+2) Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 2 (Wirtz 70, Schick 90+2); Marseille (FRA) 4 (Veretout 23, Mosquera 28-og, Aubameyang 42-pen, 59) Villarreal (ESP) 0; Benfica (POR) 2 (Di Maria 45+2pen, Goldson 67-og) Rangers (SCO) 2 (Lawrence 7, Sterling 45+5); Freiburg (GER) 1 (Gregoritsch 81) West Ham (ENG) 0; AC Milan (ITA) 4 (Giroud 34, Reijnders 44, Loftus-Cheek 45+1, Pulisic 85) Slavia Prague (CZE) 2 (Doudera 36, Schranz 65)
Note: Second legs to be played March 14