In the first leg of the round of 16, Klopp’s Reds secure the next round, while the Germans recover two goals from the surprising Azerbaijanis
Liverpool made no mistakes, while Bayer Leverkusen almost fell unexpectedly, equalizing at the last minute with Schick on the Qarabag pitch. The first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League develops on the one hand towards confirmations, with the Reds mortgaging qualification at home to Sparta Prague with a clear 1-5, while on the other towards surprises with Xabi’s team Alonso making a 2-2 comeback at Qarabag which he absolutely does not deserve.
Sparta Prague-Liverpool 1-5
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The race is more open than the result suggests. For the English, however, he immediately gets on the right track, because in the 6th minute MacAllister scores the penalty that he himself earned for Sorensen’s foul. The Czechs push and create, but don’t convert. Thus Klopp’s team doubled their lead in the 25th minute: Nuñez drew a splendid curling trajectory from outside the area, scoring the thousandth goal of the German coach’s tenure. In injury time in the first half the attacker also scored a double with another feat, a volley from the edge; shortly before Birmancevic fails to return a loose ball into the net after Kelleher’s save on Kuchta. At the beginning of the second half, Sparta Prague seemed to be able to reopen the contest with Bradley’s own goal as soon as he entered, but Luis Diaz dropped the poker in the 53rd minute by finishing in the center of the area on Elliott’s serve. In the final goal disallowed by Salah due to an offside position, the fifth center was scored by Szoboszlai anyway, with a not irresistible shot at the end of a restart, for which Jensen is not without blame.
qarabag-Bayer Leverkusen 2-2
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The Azeris can resent the outcome of this first act. In the 25th minute Jankovic’s deflected shot ends up on the post, but a minute later Qarabag breaks the deadlock: Tah loses a bloody ball, Juninho leads the restart and serves Benzia who makes no mistake. At the end of the first half the second goal also arrived, with an excellent deep pass from Patrick who launched Juninho, who in turn jumped the goalkeeper and deposited it into an empty net. Bayer shortens in the 70th minute and this time Benzia is the negative protagonist, because his reckless back pass puts the German in front of Lunev, who is overtaken with a delicious touch underneath. Juninho would have the ball to make it 3-1, but Kovar does well to block him on exit (89′). Schick pounces on Andrick’s cross late in injury time and heads in the goal that extends the unbeaten run.
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