RED ROMP
Sparta Prague 1 Liverpool 5: Klopp’s side have one foot in Europa League quarter-finals after Darwin Nunez stunners
The Reds also reached a unique milestone in their romp
MO SALAH returned to action to give Liverpool a huge boost ahead of Sunday’s Premier League battle with Manchester City.
The Egyptian international, who had not featured since February 18 due to a recurrence of a hamstring issue, replaced Luis Diaz in the 74th minute for only his third Liverpool game of 2024.
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Within 10 minutes of his introduction, Salah thought he had struck a fifth goal but it was ruled out by VAR for offside.
By then, Liverpool had effectively put both feet in the Europa League quarter-finals with a penalty from Alexis Mac Allister, a Darwin Nunez double and the fourth from Luis Diaz.
In injury-time, Dominik Szoboszlai made it 5-1 to make next Thursday’s second leg a formality.
Sparta, who trailed 3-0 at the break, pulled one goal back in the first minute of the second half thanks to an own goal by Conor Bradley.
Yet despite the Czechs missing a few chances, Liverpool were always in command.
And the only worry ahead of Sunday’s game was an injury to Ibrahima Konate while Joe Gomez was also replaced at half-time.
Liverpool were not at their best but they did not need to be against a poor Czech side.
Sparta pressed the self-destruct button after five minutes when Mac Allister was kicked to the ground by Asger Sorensen and the Liverpool midfielder sent keeper Peter Vindahl the wrong way.
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Nunez marked his 50th Liverpool start by creating something out of nothing with a dipping shot from outside the area although bungling home keeper Vindahl dived past the shot.
It was the 1000th goal Liverpool have scored under Jurgen Klopp.
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Veljko Birmancevic missed an open goal for Sparta and then Nunez grabbed his second by smashing a half-volley into the far corner with the last kick of the first half.
Klopp substituted Bradley for Gomez at half-time and he would not have expected the young right-back to hammer the ball into his own net 39 seconds into the second half.
Diaz grabbed the fourth with a deflected shot and while Salah was denied by VAR, midfielder Szoboszlai made it 5-1 from the edge of the area although again, the keeper was at fault.
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