Liverpool vs Sparta Prague: Reds in WRONG competition after six-goal demolition

Sparta Prague's manager Brian Priske claimed Liverpool should be in the Champions League, while admitting his side had never faced anything like the Reds' quality after Thursday night's demolition.

Already holding a 5-1 advantage from the first leg of the Europa League last 16 tie, Liverpool stormed to a 4-0 lead at Anfield, with goals from Darwin Nunez, Bobby Clark, Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo all coming in the first 15 minutes.

Though Sparta pulled one back before half-time, Dominik Szoboszlai got in on the fun soon after the break, while Gakpo added his second to make it 6-1 on the night and 11-2 on aggregate.

The manner of the performance over both legs was something of a statement from Jurgen Klopp's side, who are strong favourites to lift the trophy in Dublin on 22 May.

Speaking after the final whistle, Sparta manager Priske paid respect to his opponents, who he called 'world class'.

The Danish coach said: “We faced a world-class team, big respect to Liverpool how they played these two legs, how they approached the game.

“They put in the pure quality they have. We are disappointed in the personal mistakes that we made both in the first game and definitely also here in first 20 minutes. But we faced a world-class team here again.

“We scored one goal, but it’s difficult to find something positive from the game.

“We have never faced anything like this. Liverpool is a Champions League team and should be in the Champions League. They may be Premier League winners in two months. Big respect to the players of Liverpool and the coaching staff.”

Reds on a different level

Priske also stressed that the challenge of facing the Reds was far superior to the other sides Sparta, who are top of the Czech league, have encountered in Europe so far this season.

He continued: “The most important thing for me to say is I hope the Czech football fans at home acknowledge the level from Sparta to Liverpool is massive. We knew when we saw the draw that it was going to be tough.

“I hope people don’t measure the team on these two games – it’s a completely different level to what we’ve played against this season. We’ve played good teams like Rangers and Galatasaray but to Liverpool is just a complete new different level.”

Liverpool now go into the draw for the Europa League quarter finals, which takes place in Switzerland on Friday 14 March at 12:00 GMT.