'The easy thing' - Sparta Prague boss makes Liverpool promise and responds to Darwin Nunez performance

Sparta Prague boss Brian Priske is adamant his team were right not to “park the bus” against Liverpool – and vowed to do exactly the same at Anfield next week.

The Czech champions were thumped 5-1 at home by the Premier League leaders in their Europa League round of 16 first leg on Thursday evening.

Sparta created a number of chances in the first half but only found the scoresheet when Reds substitute Conor Bradley put through his own goal moments into the second half.

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And despite Liverpool having equalled Sparta’s heaviest-ever home defeat in European competition, Priske was delighted with the attitude of his players.

“We are disappointed with the result and the goals we conceded,” he said. “We had some good moments and we tried to play our football like we normally do and we created enough chances to score more than one goal. But the quality we faced was really good.

“I told the players it’s my responsibility to set up the structure of the game and I’m proud the way the guys did their job. The easy thing would have been to park the bus in front of our goal and just defend but that’s not my style or our style as a club or team. I knew what I asked of them could be challenging but they stayed loyal to it.

“They did a good job in many situations and created big chances against one of the best teams in Europe. But individually we made two big mistakes leading to their goals and we got punished with the quality Liverpool have.”

Priske added: “I knew our boys would be tested with decisions they’ve never had to take before because the opponent has this quality.