UEL: Liverpool crush Sparta in the Europa League play-offs
Liverpool already has one foot in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, having confidently defeated Sparta Prague in the away match of the 1/8 finals.
The Reds were 3-0 up at half-time in the Czech capital thanks to an early penalty from Alexis McAllister and a brace from Darwin Nunez. Conor Bradley's own goal early in the second half gave Sparta the chance of a comeback, but that hope was quickly extinguished by Luis Diaz's 53rd-minute strike. Dominik Szoboszlai finished off the Czechs, scoring Liverpool's last goal in added time - 5:1 in favor of the Premier League leaders.
2023-24, Europa League
Sparta Prague - Liverpool 1:5 (0:3)
Goals: Mac Allister A., 6 (penalty) (0:1); Núñez D., 25 (0:2); Núñez D., 45 (0:3); Bradley C., 46 (own goal) (1:3); Luis Díaz, 53 (1:4); Szoboszlai, 90 (1:5)
Sparta Prague: Vindahl Jensen; Zeleny; Preciado An.; Vitík; Sørensen As. (Rynes, 43); Solbakken; Kairinen (Karabec, 74); Krejčí L. II.; Haraslin (Laci, 65); Birmancevic (Tuci I., 75); Kuchta J. (Olatunji, 75)
Bench: Vorel; Surovcik; Vydra P.; Mejdr; Wiesner; Sevcik; Sadílek L.
Yellow Cards: Krejčí L. II. 62; Zeleny 73
Liverpool: Kelleher; Quansah; Robertson A.; Konate (van Dijk, 50); Endo W.; Gomez (Bradley C., 46); Mac Allister A. (Clark Bob., 65); Elliott H.; Núñez D. (Szoboszlai, 51); Gakpo; Luis Díaz (Salah, 74)
Bench: Adrian; Mrozek F.; Tsimikas; McConnell J.; Gordon Ka.; Koumas