Liverpool FC can continue to dream of the quadruple to say goodbye to team manager Jürgen Klopp. The Reds easily won the first leg of the round of 16 in the Europa League against Czech champions Sparta Prague 5-1 (3-0) and can plan for the round of the last eight.
Alexis Mac Allister converted an early penalty (6th), Darwin Nunez (25th/45th + 3) made everything clear before the break. The 2-0 was Liverpool’s 1,000th competitive goal under Klopp, who left at the end of the season.
After an own goal by Conor Bradley (46th), Luis Diaz (53rd) restored the old distance, and ex-Leipzig player Dominik Szoboszlai (90th + 4) put the final point. After the break, top striker Mo Salah, who had been injured for a long time, made his comeback.
Liverpool are currently leading the English Premier League, have reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and have already won the League Cup.
Coach Roger Schmidt and Benfica Lisbon won 2-2 (1-2) against Glasgow Rangers after being behind twice, but remained without a win for the third time in a row. The Portuguese had previously lost the cup semi-final against Sporting Lisbon (1:2) and the top league game at FC Porto (0:5).
Meanwhile, AS Roma are on course for their third European Cup final in a row. Paulo Dybala (12th), Romelu Lukaku (43rd), Gianluca Mancini (64th) and Bryan Cristante (68th) scored in the 4-0 (2-0) win against Brighton and Hove Albion. National player Pascal Groß was in the starting line-up for the guests.