Liverpool get boosts for Man City and Manchester United as Jurgen Klopp drops team news hint
Liverpool didn't so much as put one leg in the Europa League quarter-finals as launch a two-footed lunge into it here against Sparta Prague.
And if there was any doubt as to Jurgen Klopp's pre-match assertion that he is not prioritising competitions in his final Liverpool weeks, it was dispelled over an hour before kick-off when the team sheet dropped.
Manchester City might be next up for the Premier League leaders back on home soil but that top-of-the-table clash was not at the forefront of the Reds manager's thinking at Letna Stadion.
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Well, the decision not to risk Mohamed Salah or Dominik Szoboszlai from the start was perhaps a hint of the magnitude of Sunday's clash with Pep Guardiola's men, but there was no messing around from Klopp as Liverpool contested their first Europa League knockout tie since the 2016 final.
And a 5-1 win here in the Czech capital has made the return leg at Anfield a virtual deadrubber next week, which will certainly appeal as Liverpool survey an FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester United later that week. The value of securing their passage at half time could yet prove so important as the season takes real shape before the international break.
Within five minutes of this one, Klopp's decision to go strong was being vindicated as Alexis Mac Allister stroked home a penalty after his expert pressing robbed Asger Sorensen of the ball before he was taken to ground inside the area.
The Argentina international spoke of his difficult times before he was a World Cup-winning Premier League star in his Wednesday media duties but those worries are now a world
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