Liverpool were in fiery form as they hammered Sparta Prague 6-1 in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League Round of 16 fixture, at Anfield on Friday. Darwin Nunez (7′) opened the scoring and the floodgates opened as Bobby Clark (8′) made it 2-0 in the next minute. Liverpool didn’t wait as they took two more minutes to make it 3-0, courtesy of a goal from Mohamed Salah (10′).
![Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's third goal.(AP) Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's third goal.(AP)](https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2024/03/15/550x309/Britain-Soccer-Europa-League-98_1710465243517_1710465282002.jpg)
Four minutes later, Cody Gakpo (14′) registered his name in the scoresheet, followed by a goal from Prague’s Veljko Birmancevic. Dominik Szoboszlai (48′) struck early in the second-half as Liverpool increased their lead, with Cody Gakpo making it 6-1 in the 55th-minute.
Salah’s goal was also his 20th goal in all competitions this season, which also made him the first Liverpool player to reach that figure in seven consecutive seasons. The Egyptian attacker also bagged two assists, setting up Clark and Gakpo in the early stages.
Speaking after the match, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said, “It was on us to decide how good a game it would be and obviously we enjoyed playing football, some fantastic goals as well early on. From that point on it becomes a difficult game, like how do you keep going?”
Hailing Salah’s new record, Klopp said, “I’ve worked seven years together with him, so one problem we never had was consistency. Mo is just delivering and delivering and delivering, his desire doesn’t stop. His quality is anyway there, but then his desire to score just doesn’t stop.”
“He improved in so many aspects since he started here. He will not stop. So, I’m less surprised than maybe some others, I thought it had already happened, to be honest, in this season but he was injured for a while and that’s why he couldn’t do it [earlier] otherwise it would have happened in January or February. So, great, very good and, as I said, great to have him back,” he further added.