According to Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, the 5-1 victory in the Europa League round of 16 over Sparta did not match the real difference on the pitch. He praised the Czech champion for a good game, but according to him, his players were able to punish the opponent’s risk-taking. The outgoing coach of the English league leader said at a press conference that a possible trophy from a European competition would make his farewell more pleasant.
“The result is much better than our performance. Sparta played a good match, took a lot of risks and found gaps in our defense for counterattacks. Sometimes we lost the ball unnecessarily, but we adapted to it. We said something about it at halftime. they immediately conceded on the return, but after that we were in control of the game again,” said Klopp.
Liverpool took the lead in the sixth minute after Alexis Mac Allister converted a penalty. Sparta then pushed the “Reds” several times and created promising opportunities. Lukáš Haraslín and Angel Preciado did not use them, however, and Darwin Núñez highlighted Liverpool’s lead with two goals before the half-time break.
“He’s having a good season. He needed to get used to the team. He’s a great kid and he likes playing for us. He has one important quality for a striker. He doesn’t mind when he doesn’t hit and keeps playing. Even if he’s not scoring goals, he’s very valuable to the team ,” Klopp noted.
Sparta got back into the game at the beginning of the second half after substitute Conor Bradley’s own goal, but then Luis Díaz and Dominik Szoboszlai again highlighted the guests’ lead. “Sparta took risks and we punished their risk-taking. We scored amazing goals. We didn’t expect it to be an easy match, but we got a good result. Now we will fly home, rest and meet again in seven days,” said the 56-year-old German.
The former coach of Dortmund and Mainz would like to win the Europa League. “But the right question is rather what is my desire to win in general. I want to win under all circumstances and we showed it today. It cannot be said that we played at 80 percent. The boys knew that the match would be intense. We are satisfied with the result.” added Klopp.
2024-03-08 08:37:15
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