Liverpool quadruple bid boost as Sparta Prague tie emphatically killed off in first leg
A couple more injury scares stop it short of being a perfect night, but Liverpool have pretty much both feet in the Europa League quarter-finals after a 5-1 win in Prague.
The Europa League giveth, and the Europa League taketh away.
For Liverpool, the good far outweighed the bad on a magnificently entertaining evening in Prague. A 5-1 win would have been very much at the top end of Jurgen Klopp’s ambitions for a night when, as so often happens when one of the Barclays’ big beasts tries to pick their way through the Europa, Liverpool tried to strike a balance between getting the necessary result while not straining themselves unduly.
The scoreline is probably a touch flattering. Liverpool certainly did find themselves having to work at various points in the evening but got their goals at good times. The first came early from the spot via Alexis Mac Allister, before Darwin Nunez struck brilliantly to burst the bubble of a good spell for the home side and again just before half-time (a classic Good Time To Score), the fourth from Luis Diaz nipped a nascent comeback in the bud before a nice bit of getting in on the act from Dominik Szoboszlai.
Sparta played a far fuller part than the bare numbers suggest. In-form back-up keeper Caoimhin Kelleher was forced into a couple of significant saves, most notably shortly after Conor Bradley had inadvertently and rather dramatically shanked a clearance into his own net just after the restart.
Had Kelleher not stepped up there, Liverpool’s lead would have been cut to 3-2 and the evening might have become decidedly choppy. If there’s one club that knows how fragile a 3-0 half-time lead in Europe can be, it’s surely Liverpool.
Instead, Luis Diaz added a fourth and by the end of the night Liverpool could celebrate the return to action of Mo Salah – who thought he’d scored late on only to be denied by VAR – and another step in the return to full fitness of Szoboszlai – who did score late on.
The second leg is now a formality, a welcome boost given that return leg of this tie sits between the potentially season-defining games against Manchester City in the Premier League and Manchester United in the FA Cup as Liverpool’s pursuit of four trophies continues breathlessly on.
All good stuff. But it’s never going to be entirely perfect on this kind of night, and Sparta’s attacking effervescence kept Liverpool honest, no matter how welcome the frequent corresponding gifts from a stretched and exposed home defence.
Liverpool’s rejigged, one-eye-on-City defence had an uncomfortable evening until Virgil van Dijk came on and chilled everything out as he tends to, but the very fact Klopp was forced to deploy him tells its own story. The Europa League taketh away, remember.
Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate were both forced off for Liverpool and that means anxious wait territory given how little wriggle room they currently have on the injury front. Konate would clearly be a huge miss, but Gomez is arguably one of the players Liverpool can least afford to be without. His absence hits their options on both sides and through the middle of the back four as well now as midfield.
But assuming the updates on that pair are positive – and it must be noted neither appeared in huge distress when coming off – it’s been a thoroughly satisfactory evening for Liverpool, who can thank their hosts for playing in such an attacking manner. Those uncomfortable moments at the back were worth it for the chances Liverpool were able to carve out at the other end, where their inevitably superior composure and finishing told decisively.
The quadruple dream lives, and the manner of this win is one that makes the tougher challenges in the other two competitions over the next 10 days that little bit easier to handle. It’s all that could reasonably be asked.
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