The defender, Conor Bradley, expresses Liverpool’s determination to secure every available trophy as they bid farewell to manager Jurgen Klopp. This sentiment follows their commanding victory over Sparta Prague, propelling them into the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Leading 5-1 from a commanding performance in the first leg in the Czech Republic, Darwin Nunez’s early goal marked the beginning of a flurry of four goals in just seven minutes for Liverpool, overpowering their opponents.
By the end of the match, Liverpool had achieved their largest aggregate victory in European competition in over forty years, matching the 11-2 triumph over Finnish team Oulun Palloseura in the first round of the 1980-81 European Cup.
“He’s [Klopp] been the only manager I’ve known at this club, so for him to be leaving is sad,” the Northern Ireland full-back told TNT Sports.
“We just want to win every trophy we can for him and give him the best send-off we can.”
Liverpool are also second in the Premier League and face Manchester United in last eight of the FA Cup as they look to add more silverware following their Carabao Cup triumph in February.
Blistering start underpins emphatic win
With a low attempt that found its way into the bottom right corner, Uruguayan attacker Nunez opened the scoring with his ninth goal in 11 games thanks to a brilliant cut-back from Dominik Szoboszlai.
Furthermore, a few clumsy attempts by the visitors to play out the back only helped to fuel Liverpool’s incredible start.
The first to benefit was a teenage boy named Bobby Clark, the son of former Newcastle midfielder Lee. He scored his first senior goal just 68 seconds into the game, rolling the ball past visiting goalkeeper Peter Vindahl to finish off an excellent maiden European start.
In addition, Mohamed Salah took advantage of a third goal for Klopp’s team to score his 20th goal of the year and make history as the first player to do so in seven straight seasons.
“Mo is just delivering and delivering and delivering, his desire doesn’t stop, his quality is there and his desire to score doesn’t stop,” Klopp said.
“He has improved in so many aspects since he started here. That’s how it is, he will not stop. In seven years together with him, the one problem we never had was consistency.”
Egypt international Salah turned provider with a near-post cross for Cody Gakpo for Liverpool’s fourth and while Sparta did briefly stem the tide, with Veljko Birmancevic outpacing Wataru Endo to steer the ball past home goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, the joyous celebrations in the away section were quickly cut short.
An otherwise dismal evening for the Czech champions continued after the break.
Szoboszlai’s deflected put the home side into double figures across the two legs and Gakpo’s improvised flick from substitute Harvey Elliott’s curling shot rounded off a comprehensive win for Liverpool.