Jurgen Klopp praised the ruthless manner in which Liverpool punished Sparta Prague’s “risky” approach as his team took a significant step towards the Europa League quarter-finals.
Two goals from Darwin Nunez, an Alexis Mac Allister penalty and second-half strikes from Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai earned the Reds a 5-1 win in their round of 16 first leg in Czechia on Thursday evening.
Sparta had caused Liverpool a number of problems during the first half in which Caoimhin Kelleher made several good stops, although they only found the target through an own goal by Reds substitute Conor Bradley shortly after the interval.
And when asked if the final scoreline was harsh on the home side, Klopp said: “Yes, the result is much better than the performance, that’s true. Sparta played a good game. Sparta took some risks in our possession, they (were) hiding wingers slightly (and) our protection was not good, so they could create these counter-attacks.
“We lost a few unnecessary balls, which is then difficult to protect, but in other moments we should have done better.
“We adapted during the game and we told the boys at half-time how we should do it, but then we conceded a goal immediately. But after that it was much better. It looked like two of their big chances were offside but Caoimhin made big saves, but that’s fine.
“They took risks and we punished them for that. In other moments we scored wonderful goals, we had really good moments in the game, and we weren’t thinking we’d come here and it would be a walk in the park. We didn’t expect an easy game and it wasn’t, but it was a good result.”
Liverpool, who entertain Sparta in the return leg next Thursday, remain in the hunt for an unprecedented trophy quadruple in Klopp’s last season in charge, although the manager dismissed the notion winning a farewell European prize has increased the incentive to lift the only major silverware he hasn’t claimed during his time at Anfield.
“It would be cool, but it has nothing to do with that,” said the Reds boss. “Last year when I stayed it would have been wonderful to win something but it was impossible.
“Nobody needs to worry about that. We try really hard and you could see that tonight, my team fought as well. It’s not like we were sloppy and we thought we could do it with 80%, not at all. We made mistakes, which is human, but we fought really hard.
“If you look at the dressing room afterwards, the boys felt the intensity of the game and are happy about the result.”
