Liverpool defeated Sparta Prague 5:1 away in the first round of 16 match of the Europa League tournament.
The Reds arrived in the Czech capital with a key English title clash against Manchester City in mind this Sunday, but have done their job and rested their key players. The intrigue was killed by the break with three unanswered goals for the visitors - a well-taken penalty from Alexis McAllister and two beautiful goals from Darwin Nunes, the first of which was number 1000 for the Merseysiders under Jurgen Klopp's 476 matches in all competitions.
Sparta had chances before the break and deservedly scored a goal early in the second half when substitute Connor Bradley was unlucky to find his own goal. Soon after, however, Luis Diaz made it 4:1, and a goal by Mohamed Salah, who returned from injury, was canceled out due to a thin offside. Liverpool also scored a fifth goal through another of their substitutes - Dominik Szoboszlai. In this way, the rematch at Anfield in a week appears to be protocol.
In another clash, Roma also took a huge step towards the quarter-finals after a surprise 4-0 win over Brighton. At the Olimpico, Daniele De Rossi's men continued their fine form of late and won with goals from Paulo Dybala, Romelu Lukaku, Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante.
Leverkusen avoided a first defeat of the season in all competitions with a late equalizer against Qarabag. Milan, on the other hand, broke the resistance of 10 from Slavia Prague and took the lead before the rematch in the Czech Republic after 4:2 at home.
All results from the first 1/8-finals in EL:
Sporting Lisbon - Atalanta 1:1
Qarabag - Bayer Leverkusen 2:2
Roma - Brighton 4:0
Sparta Prague - Liverpool 1:5
Milan - Slavia Prague 4:2
Benfica - Rangers 2:2
Freiburg - West Ham 1:0
Marseille - Villarreal 4:0. /BGNES
