The perfect night in Prague for Liverpool. Almost. Jürgen Klopp’s quadruple-chasing team effectively secured their place in the Europa League quarter-finals with a comprehensive and clinical defeat of Sparta Prague.
Darwin Núñez warmed up for Manchester City on Sunday with two superb goals, including the 1,000th of Klopp’s Liverpool reign, and Mohamed Salah made his comeback after over a fortnight out as a late substitute. Only the sight of Ibrahima Konaté hobbling off injured prevented Klopp revelling in the ideal preparation for the top of the table showdown at Anfield.
“The result was much better than the performance,” admitted the Liverpool manager. “Sparta played a good game. They took risks and we punished them for that in moments and scored some wonderful goals.”
Núñez was to the fore in inflicting a first home defeat of the season on the Czech champions, who were handed a European lesson by a Liverpool side that is firmly on course to win the one trophy they have competed in and have not won under Klopp. “We have shown we can compete against good teams in Europe,” said Sparta coach Brian Priske. “But Liverpool are maybe a couple of levels up on what we have faced before.”
A convincing evening’s work began almost immediately. Sparta’s goalkeeper Peter Vindahl played Asger Sørensen into trouble with a risky pass through the Liverpool press on the edge of his area. Alexis Mac Allister pounced instantly, taking the ball off Sørensen’s toes before being sent sprawling by the defender’s careless challenge. Spanish referee José María Sánchez awarded a clear penalty and, with regular taker Salah on the bench, Brighton’s former spot-kick expert calmly sent Vindahl the wrong way from his first Liverpool penalty.
Sparta’s determination to play out from the back had presented an earlier chance for Núñez but, despite the obvious dangers, their approach stretched Liverpool and made for a highly entertaining contest. But for inspired goalkeeping from Caoimhin Kelleher and some woeful finishing, the Czech league leaders would have remained in the tie before Núñez put it beyond them.
The Liverpool keeper produced an incredible save to keep out Lukas Haraslin’s first-time shot. The ball could still have dropped over the line but for an equally impressive, overhead clearance by Joe Gomez. Konaté blocked two efforts by the lively Ángelo Preciado in quick succession, both with his backside. From a resulting corner Martin Vitik flicked on Preciado’s header only for Kelleher to produce another athletic stop.
The difference in finishing determined the outcome and there was no better demonstration of the gulf than the 1,000th goal of Klopp’s 476-game Liverpool reign. There seemed little on when Núñez received Harvey Elliott’s pass out on the left. The Uruguay international had other ideas, however, and curled a stunning shot from outside the left-hand corner of the Sparta penalty area into the top left-hand corner of Vindahl’s goal. The striker celebrated in front of the home fans, as well he might, and several plastic cups were thrown in his direction.
Sparta’s adventurous approach and misery in front of goal continued. When Kelleher blocked Jan Kuchta’s low drive the rebound fell perfectly for Veljko Birmancevic arriving unmarked at the back post. Birmancevic somehow managed to kick the ball with his right leg against his left and saw it trickle wide of an open goal. Replays of the miss on the stadium screens prompted gasps from the Sparta fans and heightened his embarrassment.
Núñez showed Sparta how to find the back of the net for a second time with the final act of an absorbing first half. Mac Allister, who teed up the striker’s dramatic winner at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, found the roaming Núñez again with a cross-field ball. The centre-forward allowed the pass to bounce before leathering an unstoppable shot across Vindahl and into the far corner. More cups and a plastic bottle were thrown at the scorer as he pointedly celebrated at the corner flag.
Klopp said: “He has quality coming out of his ears to be honest. Is he at his absolute peak in general? Not now for us. But can he develop? Yes. Is he a threat all the time? Yes.”
A minute after the restart, Birmancevic played a dangerous cross along the face of the Liverpool six yard box. Conor Bradley, a half-time replacement for the rested Gomez, turned the delivery into the top corner of his own net. Luis Díaz restored the visitors’ three-goal cushion with a deflected shot from another Elliott assist. He was later replaced by Salah as Klopp gave his leading goalscorer a much-needed run-out. Salah found the target after just 10 minutes but his effort was disallowed following a VAR review for offside. Liverpool’s thoughts had long turned to Sunday by then, although a fifth goal did arrive when substitute Dominik Szoboszlai waltzed through the Sparta defence and beat Vindahl.
The wait to discover the extent of Konaté’s injury was Klopp’s only concern. “Ibou said to me: ‘If I do another sprint then it could be bad,’ so he said it should be fine. We don’t know.”
