Jurgen Klopp admits the explosive start to Liverpool's 6-1 hammering of Sparta Prague made it a "strange game" as they secured their passage to the Europa League quarter-finals 11-2 on aggregate.
But the manager has attempted to sharpen the collective focus for Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester United, admitting it will be a much different prospect than the stroll past the Czech side at Anfield on Thursday night.
The Reds flew out of the traps at home and were 4-0 up inside 14 minutes having already beaten their opponents 5-1 in Prague last week.
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Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Bobby Clark and Dominik Szoboszlai were all on the scoresheet, while Cody Gakpo bagged a brace against Brian Priske's men and Klopp was left to reflect on an ideal night ahead of a battle with United for a semi-final place at Wembley this weekend.
“I said in the team meeting I don’t expect us to lose 5-0 and get knocked out but everything is prepared for a really good game," Klopp said. "We decide if we get through somehow and play a really good game and there were so many reasons to decide to play a really good game,
“Then the boys started the game incredibly well, we were really after them and scored wonderful goals, 4-0 up in 14 minutes is really strange and from then on it became a strange game because how can you now stay greedy?
“Everybody knows there are other games to come. We tried at half-time changing early, Robertson at centre-half, Gomez a precaution, Nunez was a precaution, none of them was necessary to take off, but Sunday is another game. That’s the moment
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